Students Discouraged From Opting For Vocational Route: Results from a new survey of 1000 people who opted to take a vocational route were actively discouraged from taking the option – with one in five being told they were ‘too clever’ to take vocational qualifications rather than academic ones. Just a quarter of these respondents said that their parents had been in favour of the decision to undergo vocational training.

Students Discouraged From Opting For Vocational Route

That said, around a third said that their school were supportive of their decision, although the same proportion were told they would be ‘more successful’ if they chose to pursue academia.

The survey, which was carried out in January 2014 on behalf of the Edge education foundation, looked at 2,230 people in the UK who were aged between 18 and 35 and were in full-time employment. Roughly half had taken an academic route, and roughly half had taken vocational subjects.

In addition to considering how their decision was treated in their early life, the survey also reviewed how that decision had impacted on their happiness with their position in 2014. According to the findings, there was ‘little difference’ between those who studied vocational subjects and those who took the academic route in terms of their happiness with their career choice, pay, success and their overall satisfaction with their job.

Jan Hodges, chief executive of the Edge Foundation, commented on the research – stating that it suggested young people could have successful and fulfilling careers regardless of whether or not they chose to pursue academic or vocational paths towards their chosen profession. She described the stigma attached to vocational study as ‘old fashioned and unjust’, continuing:

“It is disappointing that so few parents and teachers see vocational education as being worthwhile. A skilled workforce is essential to the UK economy and high-quality vocational routes need to be available and encouraged.”

The Department for Education in England has recently adopted separate league tables for vocational and academic qualifications taken by 16-18 year olds – the move received a guarded welcome generally.

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