STUDENT COUNSELLING FOR LOWERING THE NUMBER OF INTERRUPTERS IN ESTONIAN AVIATION ACADEMY

One of the main targets of Estonian educational policy is lowering the percentage of interrupters among the students of the age group of 18-24 years to 9.5% by 2020. To achieve this target it is necessary to apply measures helping students to avoid dropping out and encouraging them to continue their studies. Making an informed choice of one’s future specialty is one of the basic prerequisites for avoiding interruption of studies.

When comparing the proportion of interrupters in Estonian Aviation Academy to the average of other Estonian PHEIs in 2014–2016, it can be said that the proportion of interrupters in the Academy is lower than the Estonian average (data published by Haridussilm - Ministry of Education and Research statistics environment).

The highest number of dropouts in the Academy occurs during the first study year. The main reasons for interrupting one's studies are the following:
1) low knowledge of the essence of the chosen specialty;
2) wish to change the specialty after the first year of studies;
3) economic reasons;
4) social and psychological factors;
5) low proportion of aviation-specific subjects offered in the first year of studies.

Estonian Aviation Academy has determined its educational objectives in the Academy Development Plan and annual activity plans. One of the main objectives is lowering the number of interrupting cases. The measures for achieving this objective can be divided, similarly to the reasons of interrupting, into preventive activities and activities for finding solutions to problems occurring during the studies.

The main primary measure is forming the student candidate's informed choice. Counselling/advising directed to the choice of one's future specialty should be started already at the basic school level and continued at the high school level.

The secondary measures (for solving problems during the studies at the Academy) should be based on an effective student counselling system. In Estonian Aviation Academy this system is formed of several components - one of those, for example, the subject course "Student Counselling". The students having taken this course can act as tutors/advisers to other students.

As a result of the continuing development of the counselling system, a decreasing tendency in the number of interrupting cases can be observed in Estonian Aviation Academy.