The Relevance of Vocational High School Programs to Workforce Demands

摘要

Vocational high schools (VHSs) as one of secondary education types in Indonesia are designed to provide specific technical skills for students either to perform the tasks in work fields or to pursue higher education degree. Many VHS graduates are found unemployed due to the lack of job opportunities and the irrelevance between graduates' skills and the job demands. Their low learning achievements also lead to lack of job opportunities in government agencies as well as business and industrial world (Dunia Usaha Dunia Industri). Thus, VHSs need to maintain their graduates' quality and skill relevance. VHSs' quality is in line with the quality of graduates and their skill relevance. As workforce demands keep increasing following the development of technology, vocational high schools have to improve their performance and their graduates' skill relevancy. Skill relevancy is viewed from lesson planning, implementation, evaluation and benefit so that VHSs can ensure their graduates' skills with the current workforce demands. Industrial practices for students can be a good option for a clear observation in order to see the curriculum relevancy with the workforce demands.