page_title: Vocational school
section_title: Central and Eastern Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Vocational school / Central and Eastern Europe
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Odborné učiliště Kladno-Vrapice. Učiliště se nachází při ulici Vrapická na samém západním okraji předměstí. Pohled na průčelí školy od východu (čelnímu pohledu brání vzrostlé stromy před budovou). English: Vocational secondary school in Vrapice, a suburb of Kladno city, Czech Republic.
context_page_description: A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education, or technical skills required to complete the tasks of a particular and specific job. In the case of secondary education, these schools differ from academic high schools which usually prepare students who aim to pursue tertiary education, rather than enter directly into the workforce. With regard to post-secondary education, vocational schools are traditionally distinguished from four-year colleges by their focus on job-specific training to students who are typically bound for one of the skilled trades, rather than providing academic training for students pursuing careers in a professional discipline. While many schools have largely adhered to this convention, the purely vocational focus of other trade schools began to shift in the 1990s "toward a broader preparation that develops the academic" as well as technical skills of their students.
context_section_description: In Central and Eastern Europe, a vocational education is represented in forms of (professional) vocational technical schools often abbreviated as PTU, technical colleges (technikum) and technical high school.
  Vocational school (college)
  Vocational school or Vocational college is considered a post-secondary education type school, but combines coursework of a high school and junior college stretching for six years. In Ukraine, the term is used mostly for sports schools sometimes interchangeably with the term college. Such college could be a separate entity or a branch of bigger university. Successful graduates receive a specialist degree.
  PTU
  PTUs are usually a preparatory vocational education and are equivalent to the general education of the third degree in the former Soviet education, providing a lower level of vocational education (apprenticeship). It could be compared to a trade high school. In the 1920-30s, such PTUs were called schools of factory and plant apprenticeship, and later 1940s - vocational schools. Sometime after 1959, the name PTU was established, however, with the reorganization of the Soviet educational system these vocational schools renamed into lyceums. There were several types of PTUs such as middle city PTU and rural PTU.
  Technicum
  Technical college (technicum) is becoming an obsolete term for a college in different parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Technicums provided a middle level of vocational education. Aside of technicums and PTU there also were vocational schools (Russian: Профессиональные училища) that also provided a middle level of vocational education. In 1920-30s Ukraine, technicums were a (technical) vocational institutes, however, during the 1930-32s Soviet educational reform they were degraded in their accreditation.
  Institute
  Institutes were considered a higher level of education; however, unlike universities, they were more oriented to a particular trade. With the reorganization of the Soviet education system, most institutes have been renamed as technical universities.
caption: Vrapice Vocational School, Czech Republic
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