After spending the past 6 months in both vocational schools and general high schools, it is difficult to not make comparisons between the two systems and draw some general conclusions about upper secondary school.

              Ammattikoulus             vs.                         Lukios

Teacher Talk Time

It is clear that in vocational schools, there is very little direct instruction.  A teacher’s role is seen more as a coach and a facilitator than a lecturer.  Most instruction takes place in small groups or individuals and is in the form of feedback.  Even in general studies classes, students are more involved and participating in student-centered activities.

In high school classrooms, there is more of a mix of instructional methods.  Many times teachers are depending on textbooks and direct instruction to deliver the most amount of instruction to a student.  There is a growing number of teachers who use different modes of instruction and develop much more performance based, student-centered instruction.  Unfortunately this is not the norm in high school classrooms yet.

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Vocational schools ask students to develop critical thinking skills in the context of real world application.  Students are often provided a scenario and then expected to use the skills they have learned to resolve the problem.  These scenarios reflect experiences that would happen in the workplace.  In general studies classes, students are learning the theories and ideas that are reflected in the broader community.  They are routinely asked to critically read, write and discuss about the topics that are connected to their career. 

In high school lesson, critical thinking and problem solving is often evident based on the types of activities that students are being asked to complete.  Science classes rely heavily on labs and investigative learning, history classes pose a series of antecedents and consequences that require the use of learned knowledge to engage in and math classes use real world context to help explain higher level concepts.  It is clear that students are using their critical thinking skills in many classrooms.

Curriculum

In vocational schools there is a focus on the depth of content and not necessarily the amount of information taught.  It is a performance based system where students must demonstrate the skills they have learned in the learning module.  There is less of a emphasis on reading and writing although it is still very much present in instruction.  Vocational students also have very limited requirements for their general studies courses- 2 credits for foreign language, 2 for physics and chemistry, 1 for social studies, 1 for arts and culture and a few others.  This can be seen as limiting if they go on to higher education.  

High schools focus on a broad base of content and do not spend time going into depth in the required courses.  Students can take specialized elective courses to gain more understanding.  Teachers routinely talk about how they have too much information and not enough time.  There is a final pencil and paper test (although will be computerized by 2016) in the form of the matriculation exam.

Future Opportunities

Vocational school students have the opportunity to get into the career field they are interested in immediately after graduation.  They also have an opportunity to continue their studies in university or polytechnic college.  Students also can go back to vocational schools and obtain another qualification in a shorter amount of time because they have already completed their general studies.

High school students often apply to university.  This is very competitive and 62% of students who passed the matriculation exam did not continue studying in the year of graduation.  They do not have a vocational qualification so they have difficulty getting a job and often choose other paths to continue their education until they are accepted into university.  It will be an additional 5 to 6 years before the possibility of being a wage earner becomes a reality.  There is also higher unemployment for university graduates than in other fields because of the most recent economic downturn.  Although not an unsuccessful path to take, can potentially be a more difficult one. 

Engagement

Very rarely have I walked into a vocational classroom where students were staring off into the distance daydreaming.  Students understand that what they learn will directly be used in a career or higher learning and so they are motivated and engaged in a lesson from start to finish.  Vocational students see the role of education in being able to get a job faster and gain independence faster from their peers in high school.  Vocational students also see the connection between what they want to know and what they are learning.

Food

High school students often don’t have the same clarity of what career they want to pursue or what the next steps will be for them for higher education.  This often means that high school students are less engaged in the daily lesson and have a harder time making the connection between the immediate lesson and the long-term benefit to learning it.

Warm, yummy, cooked on location meals!

Warm, yummy, cooked on location meals!