#vocationalhighschool #craftsman #industrialengineer #meisterhighschool #vocationaladmission #vocationalemployment #employment #highschoolgradhire #technicalhighschool #commercialhighschool #infohighschool #nursinghighschool #
As a teacher working at a vocational high school, I write this to prepare content that can help parents and students. I think many of you surely don't know what kind of high school a vocational high school is. Its direction differs slightly from the old 'vocational track.' The old technical and commercial 'vocational track' schools are today most vocational high schools — technical / commercial / information / nursing high schools — and schools like Port Logistics High (Gwangyang), Software Meister High (Gwangju), and Gumi Electronics Technical High (Gumi). These Meister high schools currently demand higher grades than vocational high schools. The middle-school record seems to be regarded as a 'possibility' showing diligence in high school. At the same time, it's also a cutoff line.
A vocational high school is, in any case, a high school with a purpose. Students considering a vocational high school must consider two or more matters.
1. Transfer restrictions at vocational high schools: vocational high schools differ from general high schools, Meister high schools, and special-purpose high schools (arts/science, etc.). Once second year passes and you become a third-year, you cannot transfer. The reason is the special nature of the vocational high school curriculum. A vocational high school is structured so that students choose a major within the school and develop their competency in that major. So if you transfer in third year, due to curriculum differences (assuming it's not a same-track high school — for example, any case other than Tech High A, Dept. a -> Tech High B, Dept. a), changing majors is hard. If you have thoughts of changing your major, you must change before second year.
2. Vocational high schools basically offer the chance to take the 'written-exam-exempt qualification test.' The written-exam-exempt qualification test replaces the 'written exam' with completion of the high school curriculum, giving you the chance to pass by taking only the practical exam. Through this exam, students enjoy the privilege of not having to take the written exam. Considering that many vocational-high-school students currently may have an overall lower level of academic achievement than general-high-school/Meister-high students, this written-exam exemption is one of the methods that saves vocational-high-school students.
3. The track of a vocational high school: knowing which track it is is very important. Because depending on the track, it's decided whether you can apply to a public enterprise/public institution's job series. Let me give a few examples.
Tech High A: electrical, mechanical
Tech High B: architecture, civil engineering, mechanical
Commercial High C: information, office, general affairs, accounting
Info High D: nursing, office
The electrical or mechanical series can apply to NCS positions requiring electrical or mechanical job competency. But Tech High A and Tech High B cannot apply to high-school-graduate-hire public enterprises requiring 'office' job competency. Because the job is different. So if there's a target public enterprise in your third year of middle school, you must look at that enterprise's main selection job competencies and choose a school accordingly.
Meanwhile, continuing the transfer talk from above: student a in the mechanical department of Tech High A can transfer to the mechanical department of Tech High B (because it's a 'mechanical department,' so the departments are similar) (even after second year). But if student c in the electrical department of Tech High A wishes to transfer to the architecture, civil, or mechanical department of Tech High B, it's only possible in first year. Because the major differs, so they can't complete the same curriculum. This is exactly where the career problem arises. There's no separate way to prevent the major from changing. Usually such a 'department change' is possible within the school.
4. Students who haven't decided a major / students who had no interest in their career: honestly, there are many factors to leave this as only the students' problem. We could analyze many factors, but analyzing them is meaningless. Because responsibility for which major was chosen ultimately returns to the 'individual student.' Many students who enter vocational high schools don't understand the rigidity of the curriculum of the 'major' they decide on. They don't know that once you enter, it's hard to change direction.
From here on is my personal opinion. The problems mentioned above can be seen as the education provider not giving sufficient explanation to the education consumer. But in my personal view, there's also a duty of the education provider, who fails to give students flexibility. Adults too revise the direction of their lives through trial and error. Yet the current institutional rigidity that doesn't allow this for students is the problem. I think that even if it means letting them attend extra semesters when the major differs, the chance should be left open for students — regardless of grade level — to acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities in a major they've come to find interesting after a department change. Of course, this is just my opinion. Realistically, such guidance is impossible. If you feel the school and your major don't fit, you must transfer quickly. When? During first year. So I'd be glad if parents dissatisfied with this institutional rigidity frequently filed complaints. I think it would be really good to file complaints with the Ministry of Education or the regional education office through sites like the People's Petition portal. Filing with the school is meaningless because the school is in a position where it's hard to be the decision-maker.
5. The 'industrial-engineer certificate' of Meister high schools: whether industrial engineer or craftsman, to be exempted from the written exam, a minimum amount of 'curriculum completion hours' is needed. The industrial-engineer one requires more hours, and the craftsman one is fewer than the industrial engineer's. This is due to the difference in the status the industrial-engineer and craftsman certificates each confer. Because the industrial-engineer exam is harder, this difference can't be reduced. The problem lies in the 'certificate' outcomes, which — due to the student-level differences between most vocational high schools and Meister high schools — can even affect the job market.
Because they're not the same curriculum/school, usually Meister high schools come to be able to obtain the 'industrial-engineer' certificate, and vocational high schools the 'craftsman' certificate. Of course, even before third year there are cases of obtaining one by passing the written exam on one's own ability and then the practical exam, but this is possible for excellent or diligent students at both vocational and Meister high schools. However, an excellent student enrolled at a vocational high school mostly can't obtain the industrial-engineer certificate because the curriculum doesn't support it.
6. High-school-graduate hiring at KEPCO and other public enterprises/institutions: KEPCO's most-hired high-school-graduate field, 'transmission and distribution,' requires the electrical industrial-engineer certificate. Cases other than KEPCO don't require an industrial-engineer certificate but often require TOEIC. As a result, students who didn't properly do TOEIC from first year of high school can't apply to most public institutions.
7. Employment linkage: whether Meister high or vocational high, it's a high school aimed at employment. It takes employment through certificate acquisition or skill acquisition as its basis. So without a certificate, getting hired is hard. Certificates usually consist of 'written/practical' parts, so if you're capable, you can pass both the written and practical from first year and obtain the certificate. Accumulating certificates this way can be seen as a kind of 'expertise' acquisition, so among high-school graduates you can become a 'person companies prefer.'
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