More than half of TP students are unaware of salaries and employability for different degree programs
According to a study by the Luksic Foundation, the lack of career guidance and information about the labor market affects the decision-making of schoolchildren, many of whom come from the most vulnerable quintiles, El Mercurio emphasized.
The lack of information about career prospects is a major problem among technical and vocational education (TP) students. This was revealed in a recent report prepared by the Luksic Foundation, which presented the results of a series of surveys of nearly 48,000 fourth-year students at TVE institutions throughout Chile: 59% said they knew “little” or “very little” about the salaries and employability levels offered by higher education.
Soledad Ortúzar, executive director of the Center for Innovation in Educational Leadership at the University for Development, who was not involved in the report, mentions that in Chile, around “40% of students graduate from technical-professional secondary education are increasingly choosing to continue on to higher education. In this context, it is essential to have clear and timely information so that they can better understand the opportunities offered by this type of education, which prepares them in areas that are very important for the country’s development.”
“Today, demand for higher education is driven primarily by students’ interests rather than market needs. This leads to high enrollment in degree programs with low returns or high levels of underemployment,” explains Camila Burgos, an academic at the Faculty of Technology at the University of Santiago, who also did not participate in the report.
Fernanda Orellana, Director of Education at Fundación Luksic, warns that “this challenge is not unique to vocational education and technical, but can also be seen in scientific-humanistic education, as various studies show that misinformation about the labor market particularly affects students from more vulnerable socioeconomic backgrounds. But it is particularly worrying because vocational training attracts a high proportion of students from the lowest income quintiles, for whom continuing on to higher education could represent a significant change in their future well-being and living conditions.”
Teaching support
Part of the problem can be explained by the way students access information. Orellana claims that “in Chile, there is no sustained effort to provide career guidance throughout the school system. And in terms of information, although mechanisms do exist, there is still much progress to be made in ensuring that it is delivered in an appropriate and relevant manner, as it is currently presented in a scattered, unclear, and unattractive way for schoolchildren.”
According to the foundation’s report, teachers and counselors are the most widely used source of information by participants (40%), along with official websites and social media (40%) and family members (38%).
“But many of these students do not have relatives or close adults who have gone through higher education who can guide them on careers, employability, or financing. As a result, many depend on the information they receive at their schools, which continues to be insufficient,” says Orellana.
For his part, Ortúzar points out that “TP establishments have a great opportunity to strengthen guidance within schools, creating opportunities to provide information to students and their families, training teachers, and giving them tools that allow them not only to guide their students on the path they want to follow, but also to broaden their options and help them make informed decisions.”
Along these lines, Burgos provides some teaching strategies for educators to apply in the classroom. “Links should be made with the productive environment. Visits to workplaces can be organized so that students can observe the real-life practice of professions and understand the practical return on their training. Likewise, testimonials from graduates should be promoted, as these role models motivate and guide decisions based on real experiences,” he explains.
In 2025, through our Aspiraciones program, personalized kits were delivered to more than 60,000 students from 589 vocational schools. The material includes employability data for three preferred careers, income, actual duration, steps to apply, and access to free tuition. This year, we expect to reach a total of 800 schools and 90,000 students.
Register your school in the Luksic Foundation’s Aspirations program here.
