LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME TRANSFER OF INNOVATION MULTILATERAL PROJECTS, LEONARDO DA VINCI “Attractive Vocational Guidance for Pupils”- “@VGP”

2nd Partner Meeting, 05-07 March 2009, Istanbul

Survey on the Vocational Schools in Sofia, Bulgaria Survey methodology: a questionnaire was worked out aiming at gathering information in several aspects. Based on them, we:

made an overview of the existing vocational secondary schools determined student interest in these vocational secondary schools estimated the level of applicability of acquired knowledge and skills to professional realization after graduation studied the trends of student interest in different professions

Number of vocational secondary schools in Sofia - 62: 33 state and 29 private schools Collected answers from 27 headmasters of state schools and 3 headmasters of private schools The survey applies only for the state institutions - 82% of all state vocational secondary schools in Sofia

Results based on the questions in the survey I. Student preferences more than one candidate competing for a single place - 17 schools (63%) less than or equal to one candidate competing for a single place - 6 schools (22.3%)

II. The ratio between the number of admitted students and the number of graduated ones - having result 100% (with a margin of 2%) - 14 schools (51.9%) - below this rate - 11 schools (41.7%) - no information – 2 schools (7.4%) III. Postgraduate realization of students - 10 schools (37%) - more than or equal to 50% of their students work in the same field of their secondary school specialization - 9 schools (33.3%) - less than 50% work in the same field

IV. Theory/practise ratio in the syllabus - 10 schools (37%) in which theoretical education is less represented than the practical skills - theory is more studied than practice in 17 schools (63%). V. Trainee programs (contracts with external companies) - 22 schools (81.5%) offer trainee programs - 5 schools do not have such programs

I. The 10 most popular schools Conclusions - vocational secondary schools ranked according to student preferability rate I. The 10 most popular schools National High School of Finance and Business (NHSFB) (there are 15-20 candidates competing for one place) Sofia High School in Construction, Architecture and Geodesy „Hristo Botev“ (about 15 candidates for one place) Vocational Secondary School of Telecommunications (10 candidates for one place) National Trade and Banking High School (6 candidates competing for one place) Audio, Video and Telecommunications School „A. S. Popov“ (5 candidates for one place) Vocational High School for Tourism (4 candidates for one place) State Vocational Secondary School for Tourism “Aleko Konstantinov” (Bankya, Sofia district) (3 candidates for one place) Vocational High School of Electronics „John Atanasov“ (about 2-3 candidates for a single place) Sofia High School of Bread and Confectionery Technologies (2 candidates competing for one place) Vocational High School of Clothing and Design „Princess Maria Luisa“ (2 candidates for one place)

The 10 most attractive professions with their relative specializations: - economist / economy and management, customs and tax administration, economic information - financier / banking, insurance - construction worker / all subjects - telecommunication systems specialist - computer networks specialist - restauranteur / catering, food manufacture and services in food and beverage establishments - hotelier - company manager / tourism management - baking, bread and confectionery manufacture - fashion design

Vocational High School for Construction and Energetics II. Schools with low popularity The first group: schools enjoying smaller popularity than the 10 aforementioned vocational secondary schools, but having more than one candidates competing for a single place. These are: Vocational High School for Lifting, Construction and Transportation Machines Vocational High School for Construction and Energetics Vocational High School of Railway Transport „Nikola Korchev“ Vocational School for Food Technologies and Equipment Vocational High School for Transport Vocational High School in Hair-styling and Cosmetics Vocational School of Transport „George McGahan“

The second group: vocational secondary schools with an evident decrease in number of candidates: Vocational High School of Ecology and Biotechnologies „Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov“ (although 80% of its graduates are admitted to higher education institutions) Vocational High School for Agriculture „Buzema“ Vocational High School for Woodworking Vocational School of Transport and Energetics „Henry Ford“ Vocational School of Textile and Leather Goods Sofia Technical High School