Factores relacionados con el abandono académico en la Formación Profesional

Introduction

The socioeconomic crisis that many countries worldwide have been suffering in recent decades has had a significant impact on the most vulnerable groups of the population. These groups include students who leave the education system without finishing an academic degree that would facilitate their entry into the labour market. At the same time, this crisis has highlighted the need to take the necessary steps to ensure that young people acquire the necessary training to enable them to become employable. However, an analysis of the situation has revealed that a high percentage of young people under 25 years of age have a significant lack of training, which makes it hard for them to find a job.

Within this broad framework, vocational training is a compelling educational option for many young people hoping to transition to the labour market, given its practical nature and its close relationship with businesses. Vocational Training is structured through different levels and modalities: a) Basic Vocational Training (FPB), aimed at students who have not completed Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) or who wish to obtain basic training in a specific field; b) Intermediate Vocational Training, targeted at students who have completed ESO or have an equivalent qualification; c) Advanced Vocational Training, designed for students who have completed ESO or hold an equivalent qualification, as well as those who have already obtained an Intermediate level qualification; d) Dual Vocational Training, intended for students who want to combine their studies with work; and e) Vocational Training for Employment, aimed at adults and active workers who wish to improve their skills or change their career path.

Although Vocational Training offers a wide range of specialized studies and prepares students for employment, personal development, and promotes lifelong learning, an additional issue has arisen: the high number of students who fail and drop out of their studies before completing them (Escarbajal et al., 2021). Through educational research, attempts have been made to describe which processes (personal, academic, professional, etc.) lead students to give up on their training and pinpoint the factors that influence this dropout rate (Carrasco et al., 2015; González et al., 2015; Mena et al., 2010; Rizo & Hernández, 2019; Romero & Hernández, 2018; Sogal et al., 2015). Studies in Social Sciences are mainly focused on students in Secondary Education, High School, and University and, to a lesser extent, on those who opt for vocational training. In this sense, Echeverría and Martínez (2021), after pointing out that research on professional training in Spain is rather scarce, proposed the need for more in-depth analysis of specific topics such as Dual Vocational Training, teaching-learning processes in Vocational Training, methodological designs with representative samples, predictive studies, etc.

Mena et al. (2010) described school dropout as disaffection, rejection, and academic disengagement related to factors such as absenteeism, perceived family-social-institutional support, expectations, commitment, self-esteem, self-efficacy perception, satisfaction with studies, personal and professional skills, adaptability competencies, and similar issues. (Fernández et al., 2012; Mena et al., 2010).

Among the cited elements, engagement refers to student participation and involvement in academic life (Christenson et al., 2012; Fredricks et al., 2004; LaNasa et al., 2009; McCormick et al., 2013). It is a construct that helps explain academic outcomes and prevents dropping out from courses of study (Bresó et al., 2011; Coates & McCormick, 2014; Reeve, 2012). Its relevance in the educational field has increased over the last few decades (Brigman et al., 2015; Carter et al., 2012; Casuso-Holgado et al., 2013; Jimerson et al., 2003; Lam et al., 2014). Both in working contexts and education centres, students show different degrees of engagement with their academic tasks, which in turn affects their learning achievements (King et al., 2015).

This growing line of research delves into the relationship between engagement and academic performance (Jang et al., 2010; Parra, 2010; López-Aguilar et al., 2021), social variables (Glanville & Wildhagen, 2007), the educational environment (Hinrichs et al., 2016), academic performance (Lee, 2014), academic satisfaction (Elmore & Huebner, 2010; Korobova & Starobin, 2015), academic stress (Extremera et al., 2007), self-efficacy beliefs (Vera et al., 2014) or the motivation for studies (Martín, 2008; Martín et al., 2015; Wang & Eccles, 2013). Thus, students who are committed to their education show a high level of involvement in their studies and a good academic performance. (Salanova et al., 2005). In this sense, Schaufeli et al. (2002) stated that the term engagement is used to describe behaviours of involvement in productive learning tasks. People committed to their studies show greater effort, enthusiasm, energy, intensity of dedication, etc., despite the difficulties encountered (Bresó & Gracia, 2007; Durán et al., 2004).

According to Schaufeli and Bakker (2003) and Martínez and Salanova (2003), engagement is conceptualised as a state of psychological well-being that embraces three fundamental factors. The first of these is vigour, which describes the energy and mental stamina during the time in which a task is performed. Second, dedication refers to the active involvement and keen participation in the task. Third, absorption refers to being concentrated and deeply engrossed in academic work.

Regarding the second factor of analysis, academic satisfaction, studies show that it is a key element in explaining social adjustment or integration and success or persistence in school (Fernández-Rico et al, 2007; Schleich et al., 2006). Specifically in education, Lent and Brown (2013) considered that academic satisfaction reflects the well-being or feeling of success derived from the experiences or performance of a given task related to the student role. Likewise, academic satisfaction is positively related to social integration or to general life satisfaction (Suldo et al., 2008; Lounsbury et al., 2004). According to Lent et al. (2007), students with high levels of academic satisfaction achieve their educational goals, have favourable beliefs about their abilities that enhance their performance, have positive outcome expectations, and perceive social support in learning contexts.

The third factor of analysis, adaptability competencies, is related to academic performance and dropout (Álvarez-Pérez et al., 2016; Esteban et al., 2015; Fraga, 2014; Hirschi, 2009). According to Avram et al. (2019), adaptability skills show high predictive validity for academic achievement. Thus, a student with high levels of adaptability will have a greater predisposition to achieve better academic results and, by extension, will have a greater guarantee of remaining in school and successfully completing their studies.

Savickas and Porfeli (2012) defend the need for individuals to have a high degree of mastery of these skills, as this will allow them to integrate and develop more successfully in the different stages of their life path. These authors argue that adaptability consists of four dimensions: concern for the future, personal control, curiosity to explore new scenarios, and confidence to challenge oneself and overcome obstacles. These dimensions are related to knowing how to apply the necessary skills to adapt and integrate in different scenarios and life plans (Savickas, 2005).

With respect to students in vocational education, the stage they are at coincides with exploration and initiation into the professional world (Lent & Brown, 2013). Adaptability skills have a strong relationship with other explanatory factors of school dropout, such as engagement, which is presented as a powerful predictor of school dropout and academic performance (Truta et al., 2018). In this sense, there is a positive interdependence between adaptability and engagement (Paradnik˙e & Bandzevičien˙e, 2016).

In short, this study arose in response to an important gap in relation to the academic dropout of vocational training students. Therefore, the aim is to determine to what extent the academic dropout intention in students enrolled in vocational training studies is linked with academic satisfaction, engagement, and adaptability skills.

Method

The study was carried out using a quantitative research methodology based on an empirical-analytical approach. This methodological strategy made it possible to describe, compare, and objectively correlate the factors and dimensions described above (Hernández-Sampieri & Mendoza, 2018).

Results

Discussion and Conclusions

The relationship between academic satisfaction, commitment and adaptability with the intention to abandon studies in vocational training students was the main objective of this research. We must not lose sight of the fact that, although vocational training has sometimes been considered a less demanding level of studies compared to Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) and Baccalaureate, students in the different cycles face a variety of learning activities and have to endure considerable workloads that, on many occasions, generate stress, demotivation, doubts about their abilities, and, in the worst case, even the possibility of abandoning their studies (Belhumeur et al., 2016; McGrath et al., 2019; Salvà-Mut et al., 2020).

Although in the past, vocational training was considered a training alternative for those students who did not have the ability to take university degrees, in the last decade there has been a significant revaluation of these studies, which has led to a considerable increase in the number of students who have been opting for this path (Rego-Agraso & Rial-Sánchez, 2017). However, we share with Cerdà-Navarro et al. (2020) the need and urgency to delve deeper into academic abandonment in the context of vocational training, where very high rates have been recorded. For this reason, research such as the one we present is significant in identifying factors that may influence school dropout.

Specifically, the analysis of the three factors that we have analyzed in relation to the intention to drop out at this educational level is relevant, given the predictive value of these variables. As previous research shows (Bresó & Gracia, 2007; Salanova et al., 2005), engagement is a relevant factor that forms part of the profile of persistent students who adapt well to their studies based on their involvement and enjoyment of the learning process. Therefore, it will be necessary to include actions for students to develop skills related to this factor in educational practice.

Regarding satisfaction, the work carried out by Sánchez-Martin et al. (2017) reflected that the students of the first year of intermediate and higher vocational training in two centers were satisfied with the choice of their studies. Adaptability is another determining factor in relation to success in studies, the clarification of goals and the planning of academic-professional trajectories (Álvarez-Pérez and López-Aguilar, 2020). Analyzing these factors in relation to the problem of early school leaving, with the aim of transferring knowledge into practice, could be very useful to correct and redirect decisions on disengagement from studies.

The results obtained are quite satisfactory, since the dropout intention values among the students who participated in this research were quite low. It must be taken into account that more than 90% of the participants had favorable expectations regarding the completion of their studies, which is a relevant indicator of the students’ interest and confidence in their academic possibilities. This is closely related to the engagement dimension, as many of the participants saw the training they were taking as a personal challenge and found meaning in what they were studying. It is also related to the academic satisfaction dimension, as the students said they were very satisfied with the cycle they were taking, with the teachers, and also with their classmates. And it is linked to the adaptability dimension, as the students stated that they were aware of the importance of the studies they were taking for their professional future and that the training would help them discover job opportunities for their professional future.

In other studies, such as the one carried out by Sarceda-Gorgoso and Barreira-Cerqueiras, (2021), it was shown that students consider that basic vocational training contributes to the acquisition of skills for professional development and school continuity. Furthermore, they considered that they had a medium or even medium-high level of skill development to carry out the training they were taking. In our research, only in those cases in which students had repeated subjects in previous years and had had educational difficulties, the intention to drop out became evident.

Therefore, in relation to the purpose of the study, a significant and inverse correlation was confirmed between the intention to leave and the three factors studied. That is, those students who achieved high scores in academic satisfaction, commitment, and adaptability had no intention of abandoning their vocational training studies. According to Liébana-Presa et al. (2018), the greater the self-confidence, the greater the involvement, with less frustration and burnout and, therefore, better academic results. From this perspective, we share with Sarceda-Gorgoso and Barreira-Cerqueiras (2021) and Sarceda-Gorgoso et al. (2017) that vocational training can be an important way to reduce the levels of early school leaving and to improve the possibilities of access to the labor market for young people.

The study carried out constitutes an approximation to the students’ own perception of the importance they attribute to the three factors analyzed. It would be necessary in the future to contrast this information by evaluating other types of qualitative data, based on the analysis of reports obtained through other nominal procedures such as interviews, which would allow a more in-depth analysis of these opinions. Likewise, it would be interesting to delve into the reality of those students who intend to abandon their vocational training studies to identify the variables that are influencing this reality.

The analysis of these factors can provide relevant information for the implementation of preventive information and orientation programs, to reinforce from previous levels the idea that training is a key factor for professional development. At the same time, systems of support for vocational training students should be enabled to help them overcome all difficulties, of various kinds, that may interfere with their personal, academic and professional development, while encouraging young people to pursue these studies (Núñez, 2010; Rego & Rial, 2017). In any case, the research carried out opens new ways to delve into an educational level little studied to date (Echeverría & Martínez-Clares, 2019) and also poses the challenge of understanding the reality of the students who are studying and in the environment that surrounds them.