Student engagement in Vocational Education and Training: differential analysis in the province of Valencia

Abstract

Given the high rate of early leaving from education and training (ELET) in Spain, the analysis of student engagement acquired relevance in the educational field, since it allows the analysis of educational pathways by delving into the processes that can lead to school dropout. Although this analysis has been mainly focused on Primary and Secondary Education, in this article we focus on Vocational Education and Training (VET).

The study we present here has been developed in the province of Valencia within the framework of a state research project with continuity at a regional level whose main objective is the analysis of the itineraries of the VET students. It follows a longitudinal methodology and includes the analysis of official data and the passing of questionnaires in 49 centers selected on the basis of professional family, geographical location and ownership. The data presented correspond to the first pass of questionnaires, obtained in the 2016-2017 academic year to 737 students of Basic Vocational Education and Training (BVET) and 1.240 of Intermediate Level Vocational Education and Training (IVET). We carried out a differential analysis in relation to the student engagement between both levels of VET starting from the general hypothesis that there will be a greater school engagement among the students of IVET.

The results obtained have allowed us to confirm our initial hypothesis; however, we will highlight nuances   in each of the dimensions of student engagement. We conclude with contributions that emphasize the effects of social structures and school institutions as explanatory dimensions of educational processes.

Key words: Vocational Education and Training, student engagement, student motivation, academic aspiration, student development, comparative analysis.