Higher vs Secondary: Educational Strategies of Modern Schoolchildren (on the Materials of Primorsky Territory)

• Абросимова Евгения Евгеньевна

  Evgeniya E. Abrosimova. Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service. Vladivostok. Russia

• M.Yu. Kulanina

  Maria Yu. Kulanina. Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service. Vladivostok. Russia

• Ekaterina E. Teeper

  Ekaterina E. Teeper. Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service. Vladivostok. Russia

The rapid change in the living conditions of modern society cannot but concern the sphere of education. If higher education, as one of the most frequently transformed areas, is heard not only by the academic environment, but also by society as a whole, then the issue of secondary vocational education is raised much less frequently. The mass expansion of higher education over the past 30 years has supplanted the need to study secondary vocational educa-
tion as a significant element in the life strategy of young people. The transformational processes of the socio-economic situation in the country actualize the need to study the motives for choosing one or another form of education by modern applicants. On the one hand, higher education is still perceived as a guarantee of more successful employment in the future; on the other hand, the country's economy needs qualified personnel trained in the system of secondary vocational education. To understand what choice pupils of the 8th and 9th grades of the Primorsky Territory plan to make, what factors and motives determine their choice, a sociological study "The choice of an educational strategy by modern schoolchildren (on the example of Primorsky Territory)" was conducted. The authors conducted a questionnaire survey among pupils of the 8th and 9th grades of schools in the Primorsky Territory. The questions of the questionnaire made it possible to reflect the reasons why schoolchildren chose higher or secondary education as a way of obtaining a profession, and also revealed the main reasons and motives for entering an educational institution after graduation. Also, a number of questions reflected the attitude of schoolchildren to different levels of education. The analysis of empirical data made it possible to form the main educational strategies of modern schoolchildren in the context of the global modernization of secondary education.
Keywords: higher education, secondary education, students, children, university, school, vocational education, questionnaires.