An evaluation of vocational high schools in Indonesia: A comparison between four-year and three-year programs

Abstract

The research aimed to gain insights into the quality of four-year program vocational high school (VHS) in Indonesia compared to four-year program VHS. This research was conducted based on the school graduate standard, business sector and industrial sector (or Dunia Usaha dan Dunia Industri (DUDI)) – or the performance of the graduates and alumni (the graduates’ satisfaction). The research was conducted using Discrepancy Evaluation Model using 16 VHSs (eight four-year program VHSs and eight three-year program VHSs). The result shows that from the standpoint of the school, the graduates of the four-year program VHS are higher in quality than those of the three-year program VHS. The four-year program VHS graduates are more qualified in seven aspects: teamwork, discipline, tenacity, theoretical knowledge, confidence, creativity, and leadership. Meanwhile, using DUDI standpoint, the four-year program VHS graduates are also higher in quality than the three-year program VHS graduates. In addition, the four-year program VHS graduates are better in the quality of their discipline, tenacity, theoretical knowledge, practical skills, confidence, carefulness, creativity, and leadership. The four-year program VHS graduates have a higher level of satisfaction in terms of income than the three-year program VHS graduates. The higher quality of the four-year program VHS graduates has resulted from longer duration of the internship program (PKL) that provides them with reliable experience and skills concerning work-related problem-solving activities.

Link and Match Policy to Increase Labor Absorption in Aceh: An Evaluation of Educational Policy

“…In the opinion of Bukit (2014), as a result of the extensive experience they gain in the workplace, students become more mature in thinking, behavior, and discipline, as well as their appreciation of the potential to combine the skills they have learned in the classroom with that they just had; obtained during street vendors. Students who gain practical work experience in the workplace are better able to manage their workload, are more disciplined in paying attention to details and deadlines, have higher self-esteem, and their waiting time from school to the world of work can be shortened (Maftukin et al, 2019;Soenarto et al, 2017).…”

The academic, technical and employability skills three-year and four-year vocational high school programme graduates

“…Since there are two programmes on vocational school, the comparation between two programmes should be done to evaluate them. The evaluation of these two programmes show that students in fouryear programme has more skills than those in three-year programme (Soenarto, Amin, et al, 2017). They are also more ready to work and employed more than those in three-year programme (Pratama et al, 2019).…”

Analyzing of IDUKA as Partner to Improve the Quality of Graduates

“…With this, the curriculum that runs in Vocational Schools cannot stand alone but rather adapts to the conditions and developments of IDUKA. According to some scholars, Vocational High School (SMK) is education that prepares students to be ready to work (Mukhadis et al, 2018;Soenarto et al, 2017), this is in accordance with Law no. 20 of 2003 article 15 concerning the National Education System (Triyono, 2015).…”