Vocational education revisited: the potential value of cultural education in post-secondary schooling: A quantitative analysis of the perceived value of (cultural) education by students engaged in Dutch vocational education

A substantial amount of studies have researched the value of culture or the potential value of cultural education within the social or educational environment. In general, these studies are focused on the more pedagogical and social implications of cultural education when implemented in primary and secondary education, and seem to neglect the relevance of cultural education in post-secondary schooling. As a result of future technological developments, our fast changing society will have a great influence on the future labour market, involving severe implications for the occupational future of students engaged in postsecondary vocational education. This is why the changes that will occur on the job market have reopened the educational debate on the content of the curriculum and on the way of measuring competencies in vocational education; over the past years, a whole new approach to vocational education is being considered by several agencies. This study extents previous research and the on-going educational and cultural dialogue by investigating the perception of students engaged in vocational education in Rotterdam. The purpose in this study is to find out how students of vocational education assess the value of cultural education and how they perceive its meaning within their social and educational environment, taking their future job opportunities into account. A quantitative strategy was chosen to measure students’ cultural self-awareness and examine the perception of their education, their future job opportunities and the potential value of cultural education. Data was gathered at the Port and Logistics department of the Shipping and Transportation School, where 74 students were asked to fill in a questionnaire. Results show that the more culturally active students hold a more pessimistic view of their future job perspective, but also seem to be more satisfied with their education oriented on or set against future employment. Moreover, the more culturally active students perceive their educational environment as more supportive and think of their social environment as being more influential than students who are less culturally active. At the end of this study, the theoretical implications, as well as restrictions and directions for future research are offered.