Regional vocational education: turning the dream into reality (a case study of the Murmansk region)

vocational education in Russia is currently characterized by a high-scale trends' inconsistency. On the one hand, the annual growth of applicant flow, the state monitoring data, survey results, and numerous job vacancies for graduates of secondary vocational education determine both its popularity and success. On the other hand, educational institutions' unavailability, the decline in applicants' general training, as well as students' low personal and professional motivation lead to a loss of students throughout the learning process and decrease in number of graduates, who have completed their studies, passed the final examination and confirmed their professional competence. The article provides the analysis of secondary vocational education practices of Murmansk region. The analysis was based on the quantitative method for statistical processing and expert assessment method, which allowed the authors to question the current popularity of secondary vocational education. The conducted study showed the two sides of the matter. One side presents dreams and demands of the regional labour market related to the training of secondary vocational education specialists, as well as sociological study data reflecting hopes and motivation of colleges' applicants and their parents. The other side presents objective requirements for secondary vocational education institutions' work and graduation figures.