Cooperation Between Vocational Schools and Business in Poland: Schools’ vs. Employers’ Perspective

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of the article is to identify the barriers to cooperation between vocational schools and employers.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The main data source are the results of two surveys (CAWI): on vocational schools in Lublin, and on employers cooperating with those schools.

Findings – The results show the asymmetry of schools’ and enterprises’ objectives, which should be regarded as an important barrier to the development of cooperation between the two. Employers are set on increasing the number of hours of students’ practical vocational training in the workplace, but are reluctant to undertake more costly and more demanding forms of cooperation with schools, like participating in vocational exams, training teachers or providing equipment for school workshops. Meanwhile, schools primarily indicate the need to improve their own resources, especially workshop equipment. They often consider the present state of cooperation with business as satisfactory. Employers’ limited willingness to cooperate stems i.a. from fragmentation of the enterprise sector in Poland, poorly developed cooperative bonds between enterprises, and the small scale of recruitment problems during most of the last two decades.

Practical implications – The results allow for the identification of these forms of cooperation between schools and employers, which should be supported by EU structural funds.

Value – The research is based on information of high substantive value from the employers who already have experience in cooperation with vocational schools. Results contribute to the formulation of the view on the effects of the reform of vocational education in Poland.