Thousands of 8th graders who failed the National Assessment tests are choosing to enroll in vocational school and learn a trade. The most sought-after majors remain those that allow teenagers to earn their own money from an early age.
Technological high schools register for the vocational school until July 11. PHOTO: AM
While the teenagers who got low marks in the National Assessment are now very emotional that they will not get to the desired high school, thousands of their peers (about 16,000) have not even taken the exam. Many knew that they would be able to enroll in the vocational school even without taking the national exam tests, and they didn’t want to go through the emotions anymore. How they chose the profession is another story.
“They transfer to professional school after a year or two of high school”
The “PS Aurelian” Economic College from Slatina is one of the schools where the teachers do not worry that the places requested in the schooling plan will not be filled, for which they require an annual approval from the County School Inspectorate. For the year 2024-2025 there are places available in the 9th grade in seven high school classes, but also four vocational school classes.
They have highly sought-after qualifications and children decide, at least in the case of vocational school, well before the end of the 8th grade to come here with their file. This year, almost 100 places are available at the vocational school (there are four classes with 24 places each), and of these the most sought after are those in which hairdressers, waiters and chefs are trained. Children, on the other hand, much less often choose the qualifications for the field of textile garments or the tradesman-salesman qualification.
The trades targeted by students are in high demand on the market, which is also the reason why teenagers end up earning their first money sometimes even in the first year of vocational school.
“These children, many of them, choose the profession to support themselves, because they also have this professional scholarship. They take this certification exam. They receive a skills certificate recognized throughout the European Union and many opt, after graduating from vocational school, for day or evening high school”, explains the deputy director of the “PS Aurelian” Economic College, Prof. Jeni Urdeș. If they choose to continue their full-time studies, they do two more years of school, and if they enroll in evening high school, they do three more, within the same high school and at specializations in the same curricular area.
Two students from a school in Slatina came to enroll in the professional school FOTo: AM
The big surprise is that sometimes the reverse process also happens, says dir. Jeni Urdeș, and students admitted to high school choose, after one or two years, to transfer to vocational school. The desire to learn the trade quickly, considering the much longer period of practice, would be the basis of this choice. Vocational school students have four days of school and one practice per week in their first year, plus five weeks of combined practice. In the second year of professional school, they have three days of school and two days of practice, weekly, plus nine weeks of practice in the combined system. In the last year, they come to school only two days a week, and three go to practice at the employer, plus another 10 weeks of combined practice.
Most, not by chance and the most talented, work after reaching the legal age (16 years), during holidays and even during school. Quite a few have to earn their own money, says Prof. Urdeș. Teachers are, moreover, the depositories of some absolutely heartbreaking life stories of their students. For too many of the children, that professional scholarship, worth 300 lei/month, is the income that supports them to come every day from their hometown to school. If they have the opportunity to earn even more by working, they choose to do it. “I also stay in the dormitory, but not everyone can afford it. Even if the fee is not high, it must cover the food expenses. We don’t have high costs for food either, and the food is diversified, but if they choose to stay in the dormitory, they are no longer billed for the daily commute”Prof. Urdeș also specifies.
“I had six children in the 8th grade. Three gave the Evaluation, three did not”
Children who graduated from the 8th grade, both those who took the National Assessment and those who chose not to take the exam, still have time until July 11 to enroll in the vocational school (initially, the enrollment period ended on July 5, but the Ministry of Education decided to extend it until July 11).
Those from the Oporelu Secondary School, Olt county, will do it, says the director of this school, Prof. Nicoleta Popa, who personally came to the economic high school to submit certain outstanding documents for her students who chose the vocational school. “I had six students in the 8th grade. Three gave the National Assessment, three did not. The three who didn’t want to go to high school come to vocational school. Don’t drop out of school, under no circumstances.” says the director. At the school he leads, students learn simultaneously from the primary grades, because there are few children. In the 2024-2025 school year, there will be eight children in the 8th grade and they will learn in an independent class, according to the provisions of the new education law. It is difficult to say whether in these conditions the students will show a greater interest in school, says the director. This year’s graduates also had good study conditions, except for the fact that due to the small number of students they studied simultaneously. Technology arrived at the school in Oporelu even before the pandemic. “We have tablets from 2016, we have apps for Maths and Computer Science, we tried a lot of things to attract them, it wasn’t boring, but…”Prof. Popa also says.
“They are threatened that if they don’t get a high grade, they end up in technology”
Metallurgical Technological High School is another school hoping to realize its proposed tuition plan. Things are a little different here, says director Anișoara Dima. “The temptation remains greater for high school”, explains Prof. Dima, stating that all the lcoes at the high school have been occupied in recent years. At Metalurgic, places are also available at the vocational school, in four classes. And last year four were proposed, instead the places were filled for only three, although the qualifications are required on the labor market, employers being the ones who come up with the proposals year after year. Electricians, mechanics for industrial machinery, car mechanics, but also numerical control machine operators are trained here. To make the last mentioned qualification even more attractive, this year the high school purchased a modern numerical control machine for the practice period. No matter how great the efforts are, and certain technical schools involve their students including in European projects and offer them training internships abroad, it has been proven that parents, in particular, are more difficult to convince that the technological high school or vocational school should not is the emergency solution, but should be the first choice if the students have such skills and interests. “The mentality is still this: “you get to technology if you don’t get a high mark in the Assessment’, they are even threatened with it’ Prof. Dima concludes.
Certain technological high schools also offer students the chance to be admitted to the vocational school in a dual regime, which means that the professional scholarship granted by the state is doubled by the amount offered by the employer who requested the qualification of the students in that trade (the employer can, however, offer and more than 300 lei/month). Principals who have had such an experience say that dual students are not necessarily more motivated to learn, so they are looking for ways to support, together with sponsors/collaborators, another type of scholarship, namely a limited number of scholarships /class, to be awarded according to the progress the students make.
