VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR TOURISM. SPECIFIC ASPECTS WHICH INFLUENCE THE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE QUALITY OF THEIR LEARNING EXPERIENCE
SILVIA IRIMIEA1, ADRIANA ŞERBAN2 1 Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Geography, Centre for Tourism Training, 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania 2 Babeş-Bolyai University, Centre for University Development and Quality Management, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
ABSTRACT. – Vocational Education and Training for Tourism. Specific Aspects which Influence the Students’ Perception of the Quality of Their Learning Experience. Quality in education has been defined in various ways, each definition representing a different approach. Karl Popper defines human rationality by the adequacy of one’s action to a specific situation. Furthermore, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu argues that the actions that people undertake are based on their previous life experiences and on their social and professional status. Vocational Education and Training (VET) addresses young people and adults whose social status can influence their level of satisfaction with the quality of the educational process. The present article seeks to present the results of a questionnaire-based survey applied to the students who have attended the travel agent and tourism manager courses at the Centre for Tourism Training of the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca. The data illustrate the strong influence of the variable age and previous educational experience on the subjects' satisfaction regarding some aspects of the training activities.
Keywords: VET, quality assurance, EQUARF, Pierre Bourdieu, Karl Popper, previous lifeexperience