Parental Perception of the Education of Their Adolescent Children: Evidence from Greek Secondary Education

Overview & Synopsis

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to specify and investigate the determinants of parental intention through data collected from 200 parents of youths aged fifteen years. Results showed that Greek parents guide their children to follow upper secondary education rather than technical education for a number of reasons but mainly: technical education prevents children from continuing in higher education, Greek technical secondary education provides a low standard of education, and there are few career opportunities. Since the Greek parents believed that the Greek educational system does not prepare children for entry into an appropriate profession, the paper identifies that the school vocational program is an important issue in improving labor performance. The updating of the school curriculum and the recruitment of good teachers is urgently needed so as to respond to the increasing demands for effective school management.