The Professional Training of hospitality and tourism in the Spanish town of Ciudad Real

Abstract

Despite the fundamental role that the Spanish educational reform grants to Professional Training, it is unknown whether the perception of society has improved. In order to try to improve the social image of Professional Training, we must get to know it. Although research is scarce, there are some studies that highlight the positive assessment that society gives to the link between training and the company in this type of education. In this sense, the objective of this study is to assess the perception of Professional Training students about the future expectations offered by this formative stage. The participants were 181 Professional Training students in the Hospitality and Tourism Specialty (41.7% were male). The Future Time Perspective Questionnaire by Husman and Shell (2008) and an ad hoc questionnaire were used to collect sociodemographic data. Student's t tests were performed to analyze the differences in means between different sociodemographic variables in the four dimensions of the questionnaire. No significant differences in any of the variables studied were found. In the Chi-square test, a statistically significant association was found between those who have completed higher education versus those who have not, in relation to working in the sector. Therefore, the social image of this stage should continue to be strengthened, since employers prefer to employ university graduates with Professional Training studies than those who only have these last studies.