Evaluating the perspectives of the secondary - level students receiving tourism education on skills training

Whether there is a difference or not in the perspectives of the secondary-level students receiving vocational tourism education, who constitute an important pillar of tourism education, on tourism sector before and after their skills training has been intended in this study. To display the perspectives of the the students on tourism sector will facilitate the realization of the desired objectives of education, and will contribute to the training of more qualified employees.In accordance with the scope of the research, relevant literature has been consulted, and in order to determine students' perspectives on the tourism sector, the necessary data have been collected by using a questionnaire method. The surveys have been tested with a pilot former, the calculation of the survey with the help of SPSS 13.0 software, the reliability coefficient (Cronbach alpha) of the survey has been calculated as 86%. After the acceptance of the validity and reliability of the tests related to the scales, it has been applied 626 students studying of which six tourism and hotel keeping vocational high schools in Istanbul. The questionnaires were applied to the students in April 2012. For the data analysis, "Percent", "Frequency", "Arithmetic Mean", "Standard Deviation" and for the testing of differentiation "T-Test" and "ANOVA Test" have been applied. Besides, in order to determine the direction of differentiation, "Tukey Test" of the post hoc tests has been used.The results has inferred that the students who have not completed their skills training have more positive perspectives on tourism sector, compared to those who have completed their skills training. In the evaluation of students? perceptions of skills training, significant differences have been found out statistically in accordance with the school, department, age, gender and their impression status of the school selection. However, for the evaluation of the skills training in accordance with the finding the business enterprises where the students have performed their skills training and the students? preferences of these business enterprises, it is stated that statistically any significant differences have not been found out , and there has been no qualitative difference between opinions. In the light of these findings, the conclusions and the recommendations have been presented oriented to the skills training in secondary- level vocational tourism education.Key words: Vocational Tourism Education, Skills Training, Tourism and Hotel Keeping Vocational High School