Study title

The survey charted the perceptions and opinions of parents of ninth-graders regarding vocational education and their child's plans after completing lower secondary education. Main themes included, among others, the parents' opinions on studying and perceptions of how general and vocational upper secondary education are appreciated. The study was commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture and Skills Finland. Data collection was conducted by IROResearch. First, opinions on studying were examined with various attitudinal statements concerning, for example, whether the respondents thought that studying was interesting, that working was more interesting than studying, and whether they were interested in how their child succeeded in their studies. The respondents were asked whether their child would continue into upper secondary education after completing lower secondary school, how interesting they thought different paths of education were for their children (e.g. general or vocational upper secondary education, tenth grade) and which educational path they thought their child should choose after completing lower secondary education. Factors the respondents thought should affect their child's choice when applying to upper secondary education (e.g. wanting to have a job with good pay, location of the school/educational facility, parents' or the child's opinions) were also surveyed. If the respondents indicated that their child should choose vocational education or training after lower secondary school, they were asked which field of vocational education (e.g. humanities and arts, natural sciences, information and communication technologies) they thought would be suitable for their child. Finally, the sources of the respondents' information on vocational education, such as school in general, their child or TV/radio, were charted. Background variables included the respondent's gender, mother tongue, municipality of residence, region of residence (NUTS3), their...