RELEASE: 82% of young people demand an education more focused on the development of practical skills

The reasons linked to the future of work concentrate the main motivations of young people towards studying.

78% affirm that vocational training adapts more quickly than university training to the demands of the labor market. However, only 45% consider that this type of training has the same social recognition as university education.

77% of young people are passionate about what they study. Despite this, slightly more than half (54%) admit that they would have chosen another type of training if they had their future financially secured.

61% of young people affirm that having a series of knowledge or skills is useless if it cannot be demonstrated with an academic degree.

Madrid, May 31, 2023 – Between June 5 and 15, more than 200,000 Spanish students will take the Baccalaureate Assessment for University Access (EBAU). On the eve of this exam, the SM Foundation presents its report Why do we study? in which the main incentives of young people for learning are investigated.

This is the third of the Flash Surveys of the SM Foundation through the Youth Observatory in Latin America. The objectives of these surveys are "to convey the opinion of young people on those issues that really matter to them. Education is undoubtedly one of them," says Ariana Pérez, director of the projects.

Pragmatic young people faced with an uncertain job future

The reasons linked to the future of work concentrate the main motivations of young people towards studying: being able to dedicate themselves to what they like (29%) and having more employment opportunities (23%), are responses that represent greater importance than those related to the interest in learning, training or changing the world.

Consistent with the above, vocation (26%) and professional opportunities (21%) are the fundamental reasons for choosing their studies.

77% of young people are passionate about what they study. However, slightly more than half (54%) admit that they would have chosen another type of training if they had their future financially secured.

Four out of five young people understand that society gives more importance to having a degree than to being a trained person. In line with this “social perception”, a majority of young people (61%) affirm that having a series of knowledge or skills is useless if it cannot be demonstrated with an academic degree. Despite this, three out of five young people state that their teachers have encouraged their interest in learning.

Productivity as a priority

Young people perceive an educational system that prioritizes productivity and the acquisition of professional skills above all, while the objectives related to commitment to the environment and social justice would have less importance.

Half of young people believe that education systems are adapting enough to changes in the labor market to prepare students for the jobs of the future. More specifically, with regard to higher education, 78% affirm that vocational training has a much faster adaptability than university training, but less social recognition.

You can read the complete study here: Why do we study?, by the SM Foundation through the Observatory of Youth in Ibero-America

The SM Foundation

The SM Foundation is a non-profit educational institution that works so that, through education and culture, no girl or boy is left behind. It focuses all its initiatives on improving equity and educational quality from four areas of intervention: Educational Research, Socio-educational Assistance Projects, Teacher Training and Educational Editorial Innovation Projects.

It is endorsed by more than forty-five years of experience in the development of educational and cultural projects in Spain and Latin American countries. The SM Foundation allocates the benefits derived from SM's business activity to programs that, through education, seek to contribute to a more inclusive, just, peaceful and sustainable world.

The Observatory of Youth in Ibero-America is a Program of the SM Foundation with more than thirty years of dedication to research on youth, education and culture that, throughout its history, has produced dozens of reports to analyze and diagnose the perception of the new generations and their construction of reality.

Communication SM Spain

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