International trends and domestic processes in vocational training

Abstract

In the past three decades, several changes affecting the foundations of the system have taken place in domestic education and, within that, also in vocational training. In parallel with these changes, the European Union formulated the Europe 2020 strategy, which, in order to permanently manage the serious employment crisis associated with the global financial crisis, defined recovery from the crisis in the short term and progress towards intelligent, sustainable, inclusive growth and job creation as the main goal in the longer term. The two specific quantified goals formulated as an expansion of the strategy were also related to education: reducing the rate of early school leavers below 10%, and achieving a 40% graduate rate for the younger generations.

In close accordance with European development plans, the main goals of the domestic changes affecting vocational training were to reduce the unjustified and ever-increasing differences in the availability and quality of training, the more efficient use of budget resources, the replacement of lagging and indispensable developments, and the creation of a training structure that is better adapted to the workforce needs of the economy.

My studies show that, based on international comparative data, Hungary has a decidedly unfavorable picture for both high- and low-achieving high school students, and that the changes of the past decade show a stagnant or slightly worsening trend both in absolute and relative terms, and of extremely large differences in the internal settlement structure. they betray. My analysis traces the most important reasons for this to the serious and cumulative disturbances of the stage before the career choice in high school, to the unfavorable changes in the training structure (level of education, vocational training, high school) and spatial structure of the high school training stage.