Conference Program

School-to-Work Programs (SWPs) are widely promoted as policy instruments to support students’ orientation and skill development during upper secondary education (Vermeire, De Cuyper, Kyndt, 2022). Beyond organisational arrangements and short-term outcomes, students’ experiences and levels of awareness provide evaluative evidence for examining how School-to-Work Programs are implemented in schools. From an evaluative perspective, students’ accounts and levels of awareness constitute a crucial source of evidence for assessing the quality and coherence of SWP implementation.

This paper analyses students’ perspectives on SWPs in the Italian context by focusing on information, guidance, and choice. Drawing on student voice as an evaluative lens (Esposito, Galeotti, 2018), the study explores how students assess the functions of SWPs, how informed they feel about key aspects of these pathways, and which actors they identify as central in guiding their choices, in line with recent research on PCTOs and orientation in secondary education (Germani, Marini, Stanzione, 2025).

The analysis is based on the first wave of a broader longitudinal study conducted within a national PRIN project. Data were collected through a CAWI survey administered in the 2021–2022 school year to 4,045 students enrolled in 78 Italian upper secondary schools. The sample includes students attending academic (49.6%), technical (36.8%), and vocational (13.6%) tracks, with 1,871 males (46.2%) and 2,174 females (53.8%). The questionnaire investigated students’ evaluations of SWPs’ functions, sources and clarity of information, participation in training activities, and awareness of certification procedures.

Overall, students express positive evaluations of SWPs, primarily viewing them as opportunities to become familiar with the world of work, test personal abilities, and support future educational or career choices. Perceived usefulness is generally high, with students enrolled in vocational tracks reporting more favourable assessments than their peers in academic and technical pathways. However, these positive evaluations coexist with moderate levels of self-reported awareness. On a scale from 1 to 10, students’ perceived level of information averages 6.84, with fewer than 40% considering themselves well or fully informed.

Although more than 97% of students report having participated in informational sessions, these activities tend to focus mainly on organisational aspects, while issues related to tutoring roles and certification procedures are less clearly understood. Nearly 15% of students report being unaware of the existence of a final certification, and among those who expect to receive one, a substantial proportion express uncertainty about how competences will be certified.

Students identify the school as the primary context guiding their choices. Teachers, educational tutors, company tutors, and peers play a pivotal role in mediating information and supporting decision-making (Poliandri, Graziosi, Epifani, 2025), whereas advice from families or external actors appears marginal. Differences across educational tracks persist, with vocational students reporting higher levels of information and guidance.

By foregrounding students’ perspectives, the study highlights how high expectations towards SWPs coexist with information gaps that may affect orientation and recognition processes. These findings suggest that strengthening clarity, guidance, and transparency—particularly regarding tutoring roles and certification—represents a key evaluative issue for ensuring that SWPs effectively support informed choices and equitable opportunities across educational pathways.