Career and Technical Education (CTE) refers to programs that prepare individuals to enter and succeed in their careers (Jacobson, 2013). CTE is a wide and diverse educational sector that comprises various programs including consumer sciences, technology education, agriculture, health, family, and marketing among others. The main objective of these programs is to prepare learners for employment. Within modern education systems, CTE is an undergraduate major with instruction in one out of thirteen technical fields. In some instances, these fields may be combined to larger categories such as business services, business management and marketing being combined to form business and marketing. Several organizations have contributed to the development of CTE. These include National Association of Workforce Improvement, the Association of Career and Technical Education, and National Business Education Association among Others. One area that has received significant attention in the field of CTE is teacher education programs. Shortage of teachers in all teaching programs has been reported, which is attributed to high turnover within the teaching sector (Jacobson, 2013).
It is predicted that the United States will require more than 2 million teachers in the coming decade as more than a million veteran teachers reach retirement. Anecdotal evidence shows that CTE teacher preparation programs have significantly lowered their ability to prepare teachers, which is mainly caused by the closure of programs. Review of literature since 2001 shows that very little has been done to constantly modernize the condition of CTE teacher preparation programs. It is due to this state of CTE teacher preparation programs that Asunda (2011) suggest a thorough review of teacher preparation programs every five years to get a precise picture of CTE teacher preparation and to help in modernizing and updating CTE curriculum to meet the challenges of modern economies. In his pilot study, Asunda (2011) examined trends in CTE teacher preparation program in the past five years. The study focused on program enrolment needs, enrolment in CTE fields with regard to sex, CTE certification fields, completion rates, and substitute teacher certification procedures at 4-year colleges.
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The objectives of the study were to examine trends in CTE teacher preparation programs in the past five years, and to show that accountability, accessibility, learning, equity, and usefulness should be the foundation of re-evaluating and redesigning teacher preparation programs. It utilized a self-reported descriptive study that used the self-reporting survey technique.
The first finding of the study concerned the requirements for enrolment in CTE programs. It found that the usual requirement for enrollment for teacher education proms was admission to the university plus satisfying the standards stipulated by the school of teacher education. For schools require students interested in teacher education to have a GPA of 2.75 in order to pursue teaching as their major.
The second finding concerned the areas of certification offered by the schools. Since 2001, NASDCTE has proposed that schools implement the sixteen-career clusters to meet the academic preparation and career requirements of all students. The career clusters were thought to be organized based on current occupations and the needs of the American economy. However, the recommendation has not been implemented by schools offering CTE programs because of different reasons such as insufficient instructors to teach in specific fields and dissimilar state economies. The study found that most schools still offer certification in traditional CTE fields with business and marketing being the most popular subject areas.
Another significant finding of the study concerned alternative certification and it was found that schools provided alternative certification, but the requirements for joining the programs varied according to schools. For some schools, the requirements were similar to those needed to enroll for an ordinary degree in university (Asunda, 2011). Additional requirements included a minimum of two years paid working experience, be currently employed in a school district or must pass an occupational competency assessment.
Based on these findings, it is clear that there is need to revamp and redesign CTE teacher preparation programs in order to stem the high turnover in the field. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to evaluate the major principles of CTE espoused by NASDCTE and to initiate the key values of accessibility, equity, accountability, and learning to guide the creation of CTE programs. Since CTE is a vital and integral element of a country’s education system that aims at providing career-centered benefits to all students, it should be accessible to all students. Therefore, it is necessary for CTE enrollment requirements to be standardized in all states and schools offering the programs in a manner that ensures that the programs are accessible to all. Additionally, it is important for career counseling officers to guide high school students when choosing their career majors. This will be useful in streamlining recruitment drives of talented students who comfortably satisfy the enrollment requirements into CTE preparation programs. Based on the findings of this pilot study, there is need for stakeholders, policy makers, university administrators to prepare teachers for the international workforce, which entails redesigning clusters to make them relevant to the needs of modern economies. Revamping the programs around accountability, accessibility, learning and equity among other factors will ensure that the best talent is attracted and retained in the education sector.
References
Asunda, P.A. (2011).Career And Technical Education Teacher Preparation Trends: A Pilot Study. Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development, 5(3), 1-26.
Jacobson, K. N. (2013). Best practices and strategies for career and technical education and training: A reference guide for new instructors . Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse.
