An analysis of career path choices of Maritime Vocational High School graduates: A case study on mersi̇n chamber of Shipping Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School graduates

Türkiye has a geography with 2 important straits, a coastline exceeding 8000 km and seas connected with the oceans. These features make it very possible to operate for maritime trade. Considering that %83 of global trade is done by Sea, the importance of maritime trade in the next economic development process is undeniable. In order to achieve the expected dimensions and productivity of the Maritime Trade of the Borders, the main actor is the human factor. As in every field, there is a need for an educated and skilled workforce in the maritime field in the regions. In our country, the need for well-trained intermediate staff in the field of Maritime, which is one of the fields of Vocational Education and Training, stands out. It is aimed at educating the students who graduated from Maritime Vocational High Schools, which is one of the important pillars of meeting this deficiency. However, when students observe their career preferences after graduation, the number of students continuing in the maritime field is not observed at the desired rate. In this study, it was tried to reveal the reason why the students who graduated from Maritime Vocational High School did not continue their professional life in their field of education. İn this context, a questionnaire was applied to the students who graduated from Mersin Chamber of Shipping Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School between 2013-2021 and Frequency Distribution Analysis, Percentage Analysis, Crosstab Analysis were applied to this questionnaire through SPSS 22 program. Evaluations and solution suggestions were made about the current situation.