The Forum on Jobs, which was organised by the Praia da Vitória Vocational Training School, with the support of the Regional Government, “works as an actual display of the training offer that is available to our youngsters,” enabling a real contact with schools and promoters, thus “contributing to a more conscientious and better informed choice.”
This statement was made by the Regional Directorate for Education and Training, who spoke at the closing session of that event, which was held during two days in Praia da Vitória.
Fabíola Cardoso said that the schools of the Region have Psychology and Guidance Services, which promote students’ career guidance, as well as various forms of dissemination, but she considered the model adopted by the Forum as “especially captivating,” interactively enabling “the confrontation between various paths and possibilities.”
The Regional Director also revealed that studies have concluded that “contrary to what we are often tempted to believe, the majority of the youngsters who finish basic education intend to pursue their studies by finishing secondary education.”
Nevertheless, she added that “it appears that the majority of early school dropouts in the 10th form is due to a mismatch between the interests of youngsters and the chosen courses; therefore, “an effective promotion regarding a more comprehensive and diversified offer, a lively and attractive vocational training with fundamental tools to keep youngsters in school” are important both for the continuation of their studies and for the integration in the labour market.
The offer of vocational training courses also enables the conclusion of basic education with a double certification, something which has contributed for many teenagers not drooping out of a school at an early stage, “and we should highlight here the extremely important role played by the PROFJ programme in the fight against school dropout and academic failure,” stressed the Director.
Fabíola Cardoso considered that vocational training with level III certification “is the great commitment of the Government for the forthcoming years,” because “this is a credible and necessary alternative to scientific and humanistic courses and one of the main tools for the accomplishment of a schooling that we intend to extend for 12 years.”
The Regional Director also said that, under the domain of education and training, the European cooperation to be developed until 2020 privileges “a strategic framework that congregates the education and training systems, as a whole, in a lifelong learning perspective.”
This is “a fundamental principle that underlies the entire framework, comprising the learning in all contexts, - formal, non-formal and informal – and at all levels: from preschool, school and high education, vocational training school as well as adult education, conclude Fabíola Cardoso.