How to describe youth? Crucial life issues, aspirations, expectations

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How to describe youth? that a diploma guarantees a good job, an educational offer not corresponding to the needs of the labour market, unemployment among university graduates, educationrelated difficulties and costs – all this leads to changes in educational preferences and alters approaches to education. It is clearly visible that educational aspirations have been reduced (Fig. 2.9). More and more persons intend to finish their education at the level of general vocational schools or secondary schools with vocational profiles. Technology is approached with particular interest. Less and less youth plan to finish universities. Fig. 2.9. Changes in educational aspirations in the years 2003-2009 2009 2003 MA BA Secondary education Basic vocational education 55.7 63.9 12.6 17.1 0.8 2.6 22.8 24.7 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Source: J. Domalewski, Społeczne, środowiskowe i edukacyjne uwarunkowania drog szkolnych młodzieży, the Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development (IRWiR), Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), Warsaw, 2010. Fig. 2.10. Educational aspirations of youth and family status Basic vocational Post-secondary BA MA MA+ Low 2003 2009 1.7% 42.1% 14.6% 31.4% 10.2% 6.8% 43.7% 18.4% 22.3% 8.9% Medium 2003 2009 0.4% 19.0% 13.6% 47.2% 19.8% 1.6% 24.7% 20.1% 34.8% 18.7% High 2003 2009 3.1% 5.8% 57% 34.1% 0.4% 5.8% 10.6% 45.2% 37.9% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Source: Studies carried out in post-secondary schools in Toruń, compiled by J. Domalewski. Within six years, interest in obtaining MAs fell by 8.2 percentage points among youth commencing post-secondary schools. 9 Interest in vocational training is on the 9 Data were collected within research conducted in 2003, and then in 2009 in all schools in the Toruń region. In both cases they concerned the whole population of youth engaged in education (in 2003 N = 4069, in 2009 N = 3019). An even greater drop was noted in studies on 19-year-olds, [see] Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS): Youth 2010, Warsaw, 2011, p. 14. 46
How to describe youth? rise, as it is shorter and requires less investment. The level of educational aspirations of youth has dropped in all types of environments. However, among diligent rural youth from families of middle and higher status and among worse-educated city youth with low status the drop was most notable. This process clearly influences expectations connected with social and professional positions. Youth – the majority of whom at the beginning of the decade still aspired to high life status – fulfil their goals and rationalise less ambitious plans. It is mainly those from families of middle and lower status who opt out of the race for higher positions – in their situation assessments of the situation on the labour market and education costs are decisive and lead to less attractive choices (Table 2.1). Table 2.1. Planned social position and family status (%) Planned status ↓ High family status Middle family status Low family status 2003 2010 2003 2010 2003 2010 high 80 80 44 39 31 25 middle 18 17 50 54 48 49 low 2 3 6 7 21 26 total 100 100 100 100 100 100 Source: Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS), Youth 2010, Warsaw, 2011, p. 12. Still, the majority of youth graduating from post-secondary schools plan to continue education. The majority of secondary school students (82%) intend to go to university, and the same plans are shared by 45% of vocational school students. Some of them (19%) intend to enrol at post-secondary schools. Also half of the students from basic vocational schools intend to continue their education – usually combining it with work. The majority of students who do not plan further education intend to commence employment. Establishing one’s own company is not a popular concept among youth not intending to continue education: 7-8% of vocational school students and 2% secondary school students have such plans. It is even less frequent to take decisions of working in agricultural holdings or running a household and raising children (after approximately 2% among graduates of vocational schools). Among those ending their education earlier, more or less every seventh vocational school graduates (14%) and four in one hundred secondary school students plan to move abroad. 10 Generally the need to leave the country and perceiving it as a necessary solution for youth is lessening – in the years 2004-2007 this possibility was considered by two thirds of 19-year-olds. In the nearest future (2 years), 14.2% of young people aged 19-29 intent to seek work beyond Poland. The number of youth harbouring this intention is two and a half times as high as the number of older Poles with this aspiration. Nowadays the sense of necessity connected with leaving the country (in search of a job) remains high among youth worse prepared for making their way on the national labour market, and at the same time with sufficient qualifications to find a better-paid post abroad (mainly vocational school graduates and university graduates without special qualifications, who accept the offered terms and conditions of employment). Educational travel is considered by 3.2% of young people. 11 10 Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS), Youth 2010, Warsaw, 2011, p. 15. 11 Social Diagnosis 2009. 47
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