THE EFFECT OF VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT AND ATTITUDES TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ON SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT

Abstract

Commitment to school is students' feeling of belonging to the school, adopting the goals and values of the school, and as a result, their desire to be more successful by being willing to fulfill their school-related duties and responsibilities. There are many factors that can affect the bond that students form with the school. The most important of these are their attitudes towards vocational education and the effect of social support they perceive from family, teachers and friends. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of their perceived social support levels and their attitudes towards vocational education on their commitment to school for 691 students (353 boys and 338 girls) from three vocational high schools in Esenyurt, Istanbul. As a result of the correlation analysis, perceived social support and school engagement were positively correlated by 37.5% (r=0.375; p=0.000). Attitudes towards vocational education and commitment to school are positively related by 34.5% (r=0.345;p=0.000). As a result of the regression analysis, it was determined that the perceived social support had a positive and significant effect on school engagement (β=0.497; p=0.000) and the attitude towards vocational education had a positive and significant effect (β=0.459; p=0.000).