Attractiveness is in the eye of the beholder

Abstract

Strong policy interest in the 'attractiveness' of vocational education and training (VET) as a learning option is fuelled by concerns about the status of VET in the education system compared to general education, particularly secondary level general education. The concept of 'attractiveness' has never been clearly defined; it is not the same as VET's 'standing' , which is more concerned with educational levels, value of qualifications and VET's position in the educational system (Lasonen and Manning 2001). The attractiveness of VET as a learning option depends on who is considering this question. Attractiveness may depend on how VET is perceived by individuals (subjective attractiveness) or factual indicators of cost-effectiveness and/or opportunity cost (objective attractiveness). Consequently, what may make VET attractive to individuals may be different from what makes it attractive to employers. This paper focuses on subjective attractiveness for individuals. To clarify the concept of attractiveness and provide a viable analytical framework, we start with a definition that VET is attractive if individuals associate it with positive evaluations. This notion is at the core of defining attitude as "a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour" (Eagly and Chaiken 1993

https://publisher.uthm.edu.my/ojs/index.php/JTET/article/view/5135/3675

“…It is worth noting here that the discussion of the focus group organised for this study considered highlighting major potentials for which TVET holds a higher recommendation rate compared to general education. According to Russo et al (2019), attitude towards TVET is sustained by the potential of the programme to connect recipients to world of work; a factor that equally sustains the recommendation to others. It was therefore necessary to ascertain experts' views towards finding answer to this 'all important' function of TVET.…”