Vocational education in Canada: do policy directions and youth trajectories always meet?

Abstract

This article provides an overview of vocational education and training (VET) at the secondary level in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, describes the basic guiding principles of VET policies in these provinces and then examines how young people’s trajectories may or may not be in harmony with these policy directions. We argue that although the socio-economic context and policy intents should favour increased participation in VET at the secondary level, a number of factors such as the perceptions of VET programmes, parental influence, levels of support for students and the attraction to employment, contribute to the relatively weak success of these programmes. The analysis is based on government documentation, statistical evidence and the results of a qualitative study conducted with high school dropouts in the province Quebec. In particular, the analysis of the semi-structured interviews conducted with young people who had abandoned VET (n = 22) indicates that when these programmes attract socially and educationally vulnerable young people, they may have important problems in ensuring program completion. Furthermore, the analysis draws attention to the pitfalls that may await young people who leave a VET program without obtaining formal qualifications.

Keywords:

• vocational education
• youth
• policy
• trajectories
• labour market

Acknowledgements

The research reported here was funded by the Quebec Research Fund for Society and Culture. The authors wish to thank Katharine Larose-Hébert for her help in preparing this article.

Notes

1. Comparing data on tertiary educational attainment between countries should be approached with some caution. According to the OECD: ‘[although] the guidelines on categorization of educational programs (ISCED) are very comprehensive, it is possible that a formal education program in one country is classified differently than in another. Thus, a vocational education program may be classified as upper secondary education whilst in others it might be classified as a university program. For example, in Belgium, Canada, Finland, Japan and Sweden a high proportion of university graduates have obtained what some other countries would classify as vocational type qualifications.’ (2006, 2)

2. The research project was funded by the Quebec Research Council on Culture and Society (Fonds québécois de recherche sur la culture) and directed by Madeleine Gauthier, with Jacques Hamel, Marc Molgat, Claude Trottier and Mircea Vultur as co-researchers.

3. The secondary education program in Quebec lasts five years. Normal age of completion is 17 or 18, depending on the month of birth.