Knowledge on labour rights among vocational school graduates in Croatia

Abstract

This paper analyzes the results of a survey about knowledge on individual and collective labour rights among vocational school graduates in Croatia, conducted during April and May 2019 as a part of the EU - project “With Knowledge to Law”. The research involved 1102 vocational school graduates from 54 vocational schools in Croatia, various three-year, four-year and five-year programs. The results pointed to the conclusion that vocational school graduates do not know enough about their labour and social rights, as well as about the mechanisms for their protection such as the labour law and collective agreements. This is an important conclusion because the target population consisted of young people, who, a month after participating in the survey, have left the education system, and entered (part of them are still entering) the labour market, facing different labour market conditions, and perhaps violations of their labour and social rights in practice. Namely, without knowledge of these rights, the worker cannot assess the severity of the legal problem s/he may encounter during work, cannot protect and defend his/her interests if the right is violated, will not be able to act in accordance with existing legal mechanisms for worker protection, etc. In addition to reviewing the current situation in terms of knowledge of vocational school graduates on labour and social rights, and encouraging academic and public debates, the findings of this research can have application value in developing curricula for civic education at different educational levels. Research findings potentially contribute to the insufficiently researched topics of legal knowledge, legal literacy, legal culture and legal socialization through which this knowledge is acquired.