A recent survey by the European Commission reveals broadly positive public attitudes towards vocational education and training across Europe.
Amongst the 26,453 respondents:
- 85% said VET provides useful technical skills for work
- 82% that it leads to genuine employment opportunities
- 66% associate it with well-paid jobs, and
- More than half thought the main reason people choose VET is that it enables them to begin working and earning sooner.
The survey findings challenge the assumption that vocational pathways are necessarily regarded as a second choice, although it did find that perceptions of the status of VET and its attractiveness vary between countries and occupations. For example VET is most likely to be recommended to a young person as an educational pathway in Slovenia (70%), Hungary (69%) and Bulgaria (68%). It is least likely to be recommended in Portugal (28%), and Belgium, Luxembourg and Sweden (all 30%).
Almost three-quarters (73%) of all survey respondents expressed confidence in the quality of VET provision, while 79% believed it was delivered by competent teachers and trainers and 78% thought VET providers had modern infrastructure. The results also indicate a strong understanding of VET pathways – with 67 percent of respondents believing it can provide a route into higher education, and 64 percent saw opportunities to study or train overseas as a benefit of VET.
Employment prospects and earnings were the most influential considerations when people were deciding whether to choose VET – they were nominated by 53 percent of respondents.
The survey also identified important concerns in perceptions of VET. Half of respondents (50%) believe VET does not do enough to develop basic capabilities such as reading, writing and digital skills, or broader capabilities including communication and critical thinking. And gender stereotypes remain another concern: 71 percent say that women are often “steered towards general education rather than technical subjects, which narrows their choices and career choices.”
The findings are very robust because of the study’s design – all data was collected through face-to-face interviews conducted in November 2025, and respondents were carefully chosen to ensure their representativeness.
A separate recent report, ‘Report on the implementation of the Council Recommendation on VET for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience’ finds that 66% of recent VET graduates across the European Union had participated in work-based learning, exceeding the EU target of 60%. Employment among recent VET graduates had reached 80.2%, close to the target of 82%. Despite these achievements, the European Commission identifies the following further priorities to strengthen their collective VET systems:
- greater investment in teacher and trainer development
- stronger collaboration with businesses
- more international mobility
- increased participation in science and technology-related training, and
- greater attention to basic and transferable skills.
