New Vocational School Students’ Basic ICT Skills Self-Assessment

Abstract

This article addresses 824 Finnish vocational upper secondary level students’ self-assessments related to their basic ICT skills and their views regarding the importance of ICT skills for their future career. A questionnaire was distributed to students representing seven vocational fields who were starting their studies leading to a vocational upper secondary qualification. The results show that in many claims students in the field of Information and Communication Technologies assess their skills as significantly higher than other students, while students focusing on Health and Welfare rated their personal skills as significantly lower. The results also show that students in the field of Information and Communication Technologies and Humanities and Arts clearly believe that they will need IT skills in their future careers. Compared to others, students in Technology and Service Industries were significantly less likely to think so. This study contributes to research concerning vocational students’ ICT competence and will help in developing online courses requiring knowledge of the differences in the need for guidance experienced by students from different vocational fields.