Career and Technical Education - Workplace Readiness of Students - Research Paper Example

Career and Technical Education - Workplace Readiness Introduction The changed business and economic environment requires highly skilled and adaptable workers prepared to continuously learn and innovate in the global competitive environment (Hyslop, 2006). The skills and adaptability are imparted to the students through the Career and technical Education (CTE) programs offered in comprehensive high schools and vocational-technical high schools. Post-secondary institutions also offer technical programs, including community colleges, technical institutes, skill centers, and others. The objective and goal of CTE is to prepare the students for the 21st century global economy as 90% of the new jobs require some post secondary training (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2010). School dropout rates are very high in the US and hence the federal government is trying to encourage the students to pursue high school graduation. The biggest challenge that CTE faces is the misconception in the society that students who enter for CTE have not been successful academically and is basically second-class education for such students. 2. Objective of the Report CTE faces challenges such as the image of the students and the workplace readiness. If the CTE students are those that have not been successful academically, it raises the doubt whether the CTE institutions can really prepare the students for the workplace. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which CTE prepares the students to meet the challenges at the workplace. This report would be of importance to the local authorities and the federal government as it aims to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the CTEs. 3. Career and Technical Education The US Bureau of Labor Statistics expects that 18 of the 20 fastest-growing occupations will require career and technical education in the years to come. There are 11 million CTE students pursuing various vocational-technical courses. However, CTE faces challenges. Salopek (2007) cites the ACTE (Association for Career and technical Education) saying that CTE prepares students for workplace and is like corporate training as it provides the incumbent with skills and knowledge necessary to cope with the work place challenges. However, since this training is not workplace specific, the organizations have to layer on corporate knowledge later. The institutions and organizations realize that students are not ready to face the challenges. While they may have the technical skills, most often they lack the people skills. 4. Partnering with the industry Salopek cites example of the agricultural education programs where students are trained on renewable fuels, wind power and solar energy. The automotive technicians are engineers but the CTE designers are trying to integrate the academic requirements for graduation. Mere technical skills are not enough for workplace efficiency. CTE has been able to attract and retain students because it enables them to explore what they are good at and sustain their interest. Such education teaches them ethics at workplace, problem-solving techniques and interpersonal skills. For better outcomes of the CTE programs, the businesses should become involved in the CTE programs in their area. Toyota, for instance, has been supporting the CTE program for the automotive technicians for over 20 years and has its education network at over 58 locations all over the US. The organizations stand to benefit in such cases because the students have an experience and exposure of the company that they would be working with. This prepares them to some extent to face the challenges. 5. Deficiencies in transferable workforce skills McNamara (2009), however, contends that the interwoven relationship between workforce readiness, business and industry requirements based on their development, and the schools has existed since the institution of public education in the United States. This relationship follows laws and guidelines but these have not been able to resolve the problem of meeting the deficiencies in transferable workforce skills. Early federal legislation has only addressed the preschool, primary and secondary curricula with no attention paid to the workplace skills development. Initiatives to maximize workforce readiness were taken in 1990 but even 20 years later, the American workforce remains in a state of crisis. Reading literacy and computational skills are not important for the employers. They look for soft skills such as interpersonal knowledge and intrapersonal knowledge, skills and abilities such as ethics, time management, team work and interpersonal communication. The workforce skill deficiencies also include higher order thinking skills, which means the students must be able to apply knowledge, analyze, synthesize and evaluate situations and circumstances. Another critical requirement is the consciousness of one’s learning. Critical thinking and handling problematic situations are the higher-order meta-cognitive functions that are essential prerequisites for the workforce that enters any industry. The No Child Left behind (NCLB) program recognized the need for learners to be aware of their own thinking and learning, but this program has been helpful only at the primary and secondary level of education. It has done little to prepare the students for the workplace. Those born between 1982 and 2001, commonly known as “Millennials”, have spent their lives in digital technology and instant connectivity. The learning activities for this generation have changed from blackboard and textbooks to online multimedia presentations but the basic structure has not changed. Millennials need active learning to enhance their meta-cognitive skills. The school-based initiatives have so far failed to prepare the students for workplace challenges. This is only adding to the cost for the businesses in providing on-the-job training. Training and education has to prepare the students for the future but the future remains uncertain and it requires constant innovation and adaptation. The American high school graduates have to know beyond the three R’s and need to be prepared to meet the challenges of a continuously changing work environment. The CTE hence needs overhauling to match the workplace demands. Games and simulations in the K-12 curricula can prepare the students for problem-solving, systematic thinking, effective communication, and learning skills, all of which are critical to success at the workplace, and can effectively reduce the workforce skills gap. There are several institutions that prepare students for technical careers, especially in the field of entry-level IT work but they still lack the professionalism and the soft skills essential to retain their jobs (Gilmore, 2008). The students need to learn how to deal with situations and solve the problems. Employers receive number of applications for jobs but few qualified candidates. The ‘qualification’ does not mean just the high level of skills or technical expertise. They are looking for workplace readiness coupled with the technical skills. This industry demand has prompted institutions such as Heartland Community College to start programs like Business Essential where students are taken in after rigorous interviews and screening. The purpose is to ensure that serious students are provided the training as required by the industry. Apart from the technical skills, the institution focuses on people skills. They are prepared for interviews and on-the-job skills and provided guidance for long-term career goals. They also link the program with employers so that students understand the employer requirements and get a feel of the workplace environment. 6. State initiatives Hyslop suggests that structured transition services should support the CTE curriculum. The CTE teachers must share the goal of preparing the students for careers as well as further education. Central Educational Center (CEC) is a CTE in Georgia which serves students from three high schools. This CTE came into existence to fill the gap between the industry demands and the readiness of students. Most in this institution are high school students pursuing technical and career training along with their high school education. Here too, academic courses are embedded into the technical courses because businesses demand that students have this knowledge. Businesses identify and assess the critical requirements in different occupational areas such as IT, healthcare and manufacturing. In California too, California State University (CSU) started an Early Assessment Program (EAP) to enhance the college readiness of students who graduate from high school (Spence, 2009). The EAP was adopted by all high schools in California and the outcome was a high standard of readiness standards in reading, writing and mathematics. New diagnostic test items were developed for high school students and a new curriculum was devised to meet the industry standards. The teachers too were given new professional development opportunities to learn how to teach to the new standards. However, the focus has been on preparing the students for higher education and not for workplace. Moreover, the focus was on the three Rs. It is increasingly being recognized that labor needs to be prepared before they enter the work field. As in other states in the US, in Philadelphia too, business and community leaders are working together to ensure that high school students are exposed to the workplace and have the necessary skills to succeed after school. Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board (PWIB) aligns the skills across age levels to meet the needs of the employers. The Youth Council, launched by the PWIB recognizes that schools are not equipped to create skilled future employees on their own. An important revelation has been that youth from low-income families, if given the opportunity to gain work experience, and connect education and work during high school, would perform better than those from affluent neighborhoods. They have hence, developed a program to enable those between 14 and 21 years of age, to gain direct exposure to the work environment and develop the skills needed to sustain the challenges. They make attempts to directly connect the students with prospective employers. In addition, they also concentrate on developing the infrastructure to prepare the students. These include training the teachers and also creating awareness for a career among the target population. This sort of local initiatives has helped to supplement the school education but such initiatives too need the support of the businesses. ACT is an independent non-profit organization providing assessment, research, information and program management services in the area of education and workforce development. This organization estimates that up to 70 percent of the high school graduates are not ready for college or even career study (Spence, 2009). This readiness is measured against the benchmarks in reading, writing and mathematics. It can hence be argued that when students are not even ready for college or career education, how can they be expected to be ready for workplace after CTE? The focus here too, is on the three Rs. Hyslop too agrees that students need a strong dose of reading, comprehension, reasoning, problem-solving, and personal skills to be ready for higher and career education as well as for the workplace. Hyslop suggests that the curriculum should be altered to suit the requirements of the workplace and the students should be challenged to enroll in a career readiness curriculum. 7. Role of the federal government Even though several states in the US have taken initiatives, the current federal role does not reflect the strengths and weaknesses of different levels of government. It neither takes into account the needs of the students, the school system nor the needs of the businesses and the nation (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2010). Each state has its own standards and assessments and they define their expectations in their own ways based on the local business environment and requirements. It is not based on a common understanding of the skills and competencies necessary for the workplace after the students leave school. Instead of improvement in actions, the schools use crude tools such as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) to assess the students. There should be a unifying federal policy to establish career readiness as the goal for all students. The role of the federal government should end here and the educators closest to the students should be entrusted with the action of determining how and what should be taught to the students. Collaborative state-led efforts to establish college and career-readiness standards will require time, energy, persistence and money. This should be encouraged in the larger interest of the nation. Proficiency in reading and math will not suffice, which is the goal of the NCLB program. Unless the goal clearly states that 100% of the students must have college and career-readiness, the purpose of change is not served. Schools, district and states must be held accountable for the outcome of the CTE. Regular monitoring by the federal government is essential to ascertain whether the schools are preparing the students for college and career, and whether there is improvement over time. 8. Conclusion CTE definitely is beneficial to the nation’s economy, for the student and for the organization. It is supposed to prepare the students in various skills such as team work, leadership and problem-solving skills. All these are foundation skills which would help the students to retain and find interest at the workplace. However, currently, the CTEs have been unsuccessful in preparing the students for the workplace. While individual states have been taking initiatives based on the local requirements, the federal government has done little to unify and establish standards to be followed by all states. Each state follows its own standards and assessment procedures but it does not take into account the common skills and competencies necessary to compete in the global business environment. The current K12 curricula does not prepare the students for the workplace and nor can the schools develop the students without the support of the business and the community leaders. Partnering with the businesses provides greater insight to the students. Most CTE institutions link the academic courses with technical skills but the soft skills are not paid heed to. A very vital factor that CTEs need to recognize is the training for teachers. The teachers need to be prepared and developed; they need to share the goal of workforce readiness. They need to understand the importance of integrating academic curriculum with higher-order cognitive skills. The three Rs are not enough to sustain interest in the job. Technical expertise by itself is also not sufficient. Employers insist on the applicants having soft skills and higher-order meta-cognitive skills. The role of the federal government hence, becomes vital in ensuring that the CTE institutions prepare the American students to face the challenges of the 21st century. It is also essential that the image of the CTE students is enhanced through proper public relations initiative by the government. The CTE students are not those who have been unsuccessful academically. They are students who are being prepared and trained to meet the workplace challenges of the 21st century. References: Alliance for Excellent Education. (2010). Education Digest. 75 (6), 34-43 Gilmore, A. (2008). Educating to Ensure Soft Skills. Certification Magazine. 10 (3), 10 Hyslop, A. (2006). Establishing a clear system goal of Career and College Readiness for all students. Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers. 81 (6), 34-39 Mcnamara, B.R. (2009). The Skill Gap: Will the future workplace become an Abyss? Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers. 84 (5), 24-27 Pawlowski, B. (2010). WorkReady Philadelphia: Preparing youth for job readiness. Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers. 85 (3), 46-48 Salopek, J.J. (2007). Education for Work & Life. T+D. 61 (2), 22-24 Spence, D. (2009). State College Readiness Initiatives and Community Colleges. New Directions for Community Colleges. 2009 (145), 95-101 Read More