Investigating the relationship between learning approaches and academic achievements of vocational school students

In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between learning approaches and academic achievements of vocational school students. The method of this quantitative research is survey model. The study group of the research consists of vocational school students studying at Karabuk University. In order to obtain the necessary data for the research, the 'Learning and Study Approaches Inventory (ÖDYE-Short Form) adapted into Turkish by Topkaya, Yaka, and Öğretmen (2018) was used. Following the reliability analysis of the data obtained in the study, kurtosis and skewness values were examined, and after it was determined that the data were suitable for parametric test conditions, the existence of relationships between the scores of the students obtained from the short form of the ÖDYE and their demographic characteristics were tested by Independent Sample T, One Way ANOVA tests; the relationship between the students' learning and study approaches and their GPA was tested by correlation analysis. As a result of these tests, it was found that students in vocational schools preferred in-depth and strategic learning approaches more and surface learning approach less, there was no significant difference between the scores obtained from in-depth learning and surface learning approaches according to the gender of the students, but strategic learning approach was adopted more by female students, It was observed that there was no significant statistical difference between the grade levels of the students and their levels of adoption of in-depth and surface learning approaches, there was no significant statistical difference between the grade levels of the students and their levels of adoption of in-depth and surface learning approaches, there was a negative relationship between the students' grade point averages and their surface learning approach preferences, and there was a positive relationship between their strategic learning approach preferences whereas there was no relationship between their deep learning approach preferences and their grade point averages. In the research, it was suggested that policies aiming to improve the quality of education in universities should be established, these policies should be put into practice, a learner-centred structure should be created in the education of students in vocational schools and in-depth learning skills should be gained to learners; for this purpose, the teaching skills of the lecturers teaching in vocational schools should be improved