SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT, WORK VALUES AND STUDENTS’ TRAINING FOR THE LABOR MARKET

Abstract

This paper reflects theoretical and empirical interrogations regarding concepts which gain interest in recent research in relation to school results and school-to-work transition of high education graduates: school-engagement, valorization of work, work ethics and school social capital. The initiative of such approach is linked to the identification of the obstacles and implicitly the mechanisms which facilitate an easier school-to-work transition of high education graduates of economic studies. In the current research we followed which are the motivations regarding work, and the measures of school engagement, identifying that students with higher academic engagement present greater interest in general criteria related to work and are less intrinsically motivated. The research findings in this area on the one hand confirm the importance of school-engagement for the students from tertiary education. On the other hand, it suggests, besides the mediated effect on school results on the successful insertion on the labor market, also a direct impact on their work engagement of these graduates. In addition to these aspects less visible and less studied, research in this field revealed other obstacles that occur in the successful integration of graduates in the workplace. It was found that both employers and young graduates’ employees assigned increased importance for the success in the workplace to transversal skills that are considered less developed through tertiary educational system. In addition, experience at the workplace, the practical training and voluntary involvement in different actions can also be useful tools in preparing students for the labor market. The data, both qualitative and quantitative, analyzed in this paper were collected within the project "Practical training of economists students. Inter-regional partnership in the labor market between universities and the business environment”. PRACTeam project is coordinated by University of Oradea - Faculty of Economic Studies, financed through European Social Fund - “Investing in People!” Contract no. POSDRU/90/2.1/S/64150.

Keywords

• school engagement, transition to labor market, young graduates, social capital