Analysis of the Occupational and Educational Status of Graduates of the Motahari Martyr Vocational Agriculture High School: Application of Follow up Study

The aim of the current follow-up study was to investigate the education-career status of graduates of the Motahari Martyr Vocational Agricultural High School, Shiraz, by means of a survey technique. The study population was all graduates of the school in two branches; Work-Knowledge, and Technical-Vocational graduates that graduated from January 2007 to September 2012. Stratified random sampling method was used to select 94 graduates from Work-Knowledge and 132 graduates from Technical-Vocational disciplines. Therefore, the data collected from 224 respondents (85 percent response rate). The face validity of the research instrument which was a research-made questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and to evaluate its reliability; Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was calculated. The Cronbach's coefficient (0.70- 0.91) indicated the suitability of the scales. The results revealed that graduates’ satisfaction with training programs were higher than average. This is while, different perceived utility on education factors such that the subject of “information and communication technology” was unfavorable, compared to the subject of “educational tools” and “practical field” which utilities were moderate and desirable, respectively. More than 83 percent of graduates were interested in agricultural fields and over 86 percent of them have hardware facilities such as land, gardens or livestock. Results also showed that more than 53 percent of the graduates were employed, 34 percent were students and 13 percent were unemployed. Employment during in school had a significant impact on employment after graduation.