Guidance needs’ among students in vocational training in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. In Spain, Initial Vocational Education and Training is still devalued by Compulsory Education students and by their families, who wish them to go on to Upper Secondary Education. The rise in value of Vocational Education and Training requires more quality and this may be possible if students are offered better professional information and more guidance. The starting point for intervention in guidance should be a diagnosis about students’ needs. The aim of this research is to identify these students’ needs. METHOD. We developed this inquiry with 4423 and PCPI students from 27 state secondary schools in Andalusia. All students answered the questionnaire we had made for this purpose. According to the results obtained by principal components analysis, the questionnaire includes six sections: self-knowledge, environmental knowledge, decision-making, employment, social competence and self-confidence. RESULTS. Results show that students mainly lack abilities for employment, environmental knowledge and abilities to develop their professional projects. The differences between the different types of Vocational Training levels show a higher lack of these abilities in PCPI students than in Vocational Training ones. DISCUSION. These results show that guidance actions at PCPI courses are needed. Most importantly, contents should focus on information about the labor market, the development of skills to obtain a job and on the students’ capacity to define their professional project.