Examination of vocational high school graduates in the context of Bourdieu's theory of reproduction

The aim of this research is to determine how individuals who graduated from vocational high schools and achieved a high professional status go out of the reproduction process. The study was conducted using the case study design, one of the qualitative research designs. The situation handled within the scope of the study is the situation of going out of the reproduction process by obtaining a high-status profession despite having studied in a vocational high school. The capitals that enabled the individuals to get a high-status profession after finishing vocational high school and the practices of getting out of the reproduction process constitute the dimensions examined in detail within this framework. The study is limited to individuals who graduated from a vocational high school and have a high professional status. In the study, the purposive sampling technique, one of the non-randomised techniques, was used. While creating the sample, individuals who do not work in a job based on manual labor but have a profession based on intellectual labor instead were taken as basis. The aim was to represent the diversity and differences of the participants using maximum diversity sampling. Accordingly, individuals from different professions were chosen as participants. Within the scope of the research, a total of 20 people, 9 women and 11 men, aged between 32 and 65, were interviewed. A semi-structured interview form was used in the interviews. After analysing the reasons that lead to the vocational high school in the reproduction process, the reasons affecting the exit from the reproduction process were consolidated under six main themes: remaining in the same field, taking extra lessons, school-related reasons, family-related reasons, environment-related reasons and reasons arising from the individual. It is possible to get out of the process of reproduction by obtaining a high professional status. As a result of the research, practices used to get out of the circle of reproduction and capitals decisive for the participants to gain professional status were revealed in the study. It can be stated that many factors affect professional status. Capitals (cultural capital, economic capital and social capital), previously inherited or acquired later, and individual effort can be stated as important factors. In conclusion, it can be stated that the role of school alone in determining the professional status is not sufficient on its own, and that the past academic achievements of the individuals, the capital they have, the strategies they use and their personal characteristics are other factors in determining the professional status.