Abstract
A large share of Czech secondary students enters technical or vocational tracks (70%). This structure of education is highly controversial: On the one hand, major employer organizations strongly support the present dominant role of vocational and professional education.
On the other hand, educationalist and the non-profit sector condemn in particular the 'apprenticeship' (vocational) track as a dead-end educational path, as graduation in this track does not allow for direct entrance of tertiary schools. This is a three-year secondary education ending in a final exam resulting into what is called an 'apprenticeship' (vocational) certificate (ISCED 353, EQF 3).
While this programme is commonly called 'apprenticeship' education, it is essentially a school-based VET programme. Students in the vocational track are characterised by lower socio-economic status and worse academic achievement in comparison with students from the technical and academic tracks, worse attitudes towards participation in politics etc. (Straková, 2015).
Much less is known about the day-to-day experiences of VET students and possible mechanisms that produce the positive or negative outcomes of their schooling. In this study we compare the contemporary macro-level discussion about the VET education in Czechia and the micro-data about the panel of adolescents.
We will present the results of prospective qualitative longitudinal study of 29 students we have followed since the last year of comprehensive school and during their transition to different vocational schools, as compared with technical and academic track students. These research findings will be presented referring to the macro-level institutional change of skill formation and deployment in the Czech Republic.