The technical high schools’ education is a part of an industrial education and its purpose is to train the vocational engineers. However, the number of students who wish to continue with their studies in colleges or universities or who search for ot...
The technical high schools’ education is a part of an industrial education and its purpose is to train the vocational engineers. However, the number of students who wish to continue with their studies in colleges or universities or who search for other paths rather than employments is gradually increasing. Thus, technical high schools are asked to accommodate various demands of students and educate them efficiently according to its primary educational purpose.
This study was intended to investigate the career awareness of technical high school students and the status of teachers’ career education in order to present the efficient career guidance system. The subject of 491 students and 98 educators were drawn from technical high schools for questionnaire surveys. Based on the results of the surveys, this study analyzes the career awareness and the status of the career guidance, and proposes suggestions for the improvement of career education.
And the research results were as follows:
First, 82.3 percent of 491 students wish to continue with their studies in colleges or universities after their high school graduation. Thus, technical high schools should merge the vocational instructions with the preparation for proceeding to colleges or universities. There should also be an expansion or establishment of special screening for various technical related courses of study in universities.
Second, the students think that their aptitude and capabilities will be underestimated, thus they will not be treated fairly compared with university graduates. The recognition standard of the society needs to be urgently enhanced so that the salary gap and promotion discrimination based on academic background may be removed as well as keeping on developing systems and programs to that end.
Third, the students wish to choose their occupation with higher income even if it is irrelevant to their major. It is important to help students select an appropriate occupation with rational understanding based on their aptitude, interest, and prospects as the standard of choosing an occupation. An occupational education programs should be developed and provided systematically.
Fourth, the students’satisfaction was low towards the career guidance system run by schools. Thus more opportunities to participate in systematic and specific career education program should be developed and offered to meet the students’ needs. In addition, time spent on career guidance system should be reformed and enforced systematically.
Fifth, the systematic career-counseling training programs are hardly being offered to educators. It is very important and necessary to build career-counseling departments and to train the professional career counselors. By requiring all the educators to receive these trainings, they can be aware of the importance of career guidance education and can be trained to provide systematical and practical information for students.
Sixth, the industry-academy cooperation between the technical high schools and the enterprises is not forged well due to the difficulties in developing detailed cooperation program. Thus, the development of industry-academy cooperation program should be intensified so that the students can adapt themselves to the rapidly changing industrial sites and cultivate superior job skills.