called for more "parity of esteem" between academic and more technical or vocational qualifications for young people.
"This less favourable comparison and inevitable societal stigma appears to be reinforced both at school, by peers and teachers and at home by family or parents," it said."When you mention the word apprentice, or anything other than an A-Level or university to a parent, you just see their face saying you think their child is a failure," one teacher said.
"At its worst, there was a perception among some participants that certain schools actively discourage or even 'block' FE colleges from coming in to speak to their pupils, which perpetuates the sense of 'otherness' associated with vocational qualifications," the report said. More positively, it suggested that many students who took vocational qualifications valued the fact they combined practical experience, work and learning.
Economy_NI Teenagers come in to my work studying ‘sports science, psychology, music, criminology….never seem to be able to tell me what job they actually plan on doing, I don’t get it, so much money wasted.
Economy_NI My niece undertook vocational qualifications and has just recently saved enough money from working hard to put a deposit on a house worth over a 100,000.