Study title

Perceptions of Vocational Education: Lower Secondary School Guidance Counsellors 2018

Dataset ID Number

FSD3335

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3335
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3335

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• IROResearch

Abstract

The survey charted the perceptions and opinions of lower secondary school guidance counsellors regarding vocational education and training in Finland. Main themes included, among others, the future plans of the ninth-graders the councellors had guided during the past year, the councellors' perceptions of how general and vocational upper secondary education are appreciated, and factors that affected the educational guidance given by the councellors to the ninth-graders. The study was commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture and Skills Finland. Data collection was conducted by IROResearch.

First, the councellors' perceptions of the ninth-graders' opinions on studying were charted with various attitudinal statements concerning, for example, how important the ninth-graders thought studying was for the future and whether they thought studying was interesting or working was more interesting than studying. The counsellors were also asked whether the ninth-graders thought various educational choices were interesting for them personally (e.g. general or vocational upper secondary education or tenth grade). Factors affecting how the councellors guided the ninth-graders were examined (e.g. the student's success in their studies, their ambition and will to succeed, their parents' opinions). The fields of education that most interested ninth-graders who planned to continue into vocational education or training were surveyed (e.g. humanities and arts, natural sciences, information and communication technologies). Finally, the councellors were asked whether they thought they had enough information on vocational education and training considering their work in guiding ninth-graders.

Background information included the respondent's gender, how long they had worked as a lower secondary school guidance councellor, municipality of residence and region of residence (NUTS3).

Keywords

education; educational choice; educational guidance; educational opportunities; educational provision; lower secondary schools; upper secondary education; upper secondary schools; vocational education

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Vocational education and training (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Youth (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• IROResearch

Data Producers

• Ministry of Education and Culture

Time Period Covered

2018

Collection Dates

2018-10-10 – 2018-10-16

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Lower secondary school guidance councellors in Finland

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Simple random

The sample size of the study was 100 respondents. To form the sample, the pedagogical organisation Finnish Guidance Councellors (SOPO) provided IROResearch with their membership register.

Collection Mode

Telephone interview: Computer-assisted (CATI)

Research Instrument

Semi-structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD3333 Perceptions of Vocational Education: Ninth-Graders 2018

FSD3334 Perceptions of Vocational Education: Parents of Ninth-Graders 2018

FSD3336 Perceptions of Vocational Education: Second-year Students in Vocational or General Upper Secondary Education 2018

FSD3337 Perceptions of Vocational Education: Adult Students in Vocational Education 2018

FSD3338 Perceptions of Vocational Education: Human Resources Administration in Companies 2018

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

To prevent identification of participants, response options "Turku" and "Other city" were combined into one category in variable K23 denoting the respondent's municipality of residence.

The data do not contain open-ended variables or open-ended responses to response option "Other, please specify".

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

IROResearch: Perceptions of Vocational Education: Lower Secondary School Guidance Counsellors 2018 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2020-06-17). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3335

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Other Material

See downloadable files at the top of the page.

Open-ended responses to the surveys are available as attached files in the PDF reports (in Finnish).

Related Materials

Ammatillisen koulutuksen mielikuvatutkimus 2018: Perusopetuksen oppilaanohjaajat (2018) IROResearch & Skills Finland & Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö.

Related Publications

Ammatillisen koulutuksen mielikuvatutkimus 2018: Keskeiset tulokset (2018) IROResearch & Skills Finland & Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö.

Ammatillisen koulutuksen mielikuvatutkimus 2018: Perusopetuksen oppilaanohjaajat (2018) IROResearch & Skills Finland & Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö.