Vocational Education and Training (VET) is also called Vocational training and Career and Technical Education (CTE)). It gets learners ready for careers based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic and those related to a specific trade, occupation or vocation; hence the term, in which the learner participates.
Oftentimes, it is called technical education, since the learner directly develops expertise in a particular group of techniques or technology. Vocation and career are usually used interchangeably. Vocational education may be compared to education in a typically broader scientific field. This may focus on theory and abstract conceptual knowledge, characteristic or tertiary education. Vocational education is usually at the secondary or post-secondary level. It, normally, interacts with the apprenticeship system of skills enhancement.
Till the end of the 20th century, vocational education concentrated on specific trades such as, for instance, an automobile mechanic or welder. Hence, it was related to the activities of lower social classes. As a result, it was associated with a sort of stigma and vocational education got linked to the traditional and conventional apprenticeship routine of learning. But as the labor market got more focused and economies started to stipulate higher levels of skill, governments and businesses started increasingly investing in the future of vocational education.
This is done through publicly funded training organizations and financially supported apprenticeship or trainee schemes for businesses. At the post-secondary level vocational education is normally provided by institutes of technology, or by local community colleges. In the 20th century Vocational education got extremely diversified. It now exists in industries such as retail, tourism, information technology, funeral services and cosmetics, as well as in the traditional crafts and cottage industries.
Online Education
There are several terms for online education. A few of them are: virtual education, online education, distance education, Internet education, web-based education, and education via computer-mediated communication. Essentially, online education is characterized by:
1. The separation of teachers and learners that differentiates it from one on one education
2. The impact of an educational organization that differentiates it from self-study and private tutoring
3. The use of a computer networks to provide or dispense educational content
4. The offer of two-way communication through a computer network so that students may profit from communication with each other, teachers, and staff
E-learning
E-learning is classified as interactive learning. In this type of learning the content is made available online and gives automatic feedback to a students learning activities. Online communication with real people might or might not be included. However, the aim of e-learning is normally more on the learning content than on communication between tutors and students.
By: Kevin Pederson
Posts Tagged ‘Technical Education’
Vocational Education, Right Choice for Your Future
October 27th, 2009Career Advancement Accounts for Military Spouse Education and Training
October 25th, 2009While you are serving in the defense forces it is necessary to prepare yourself for a post military career should you decide to leave the forces at some point in the future. In the initial stages adjusting to a civilian life and work place is more often than not painful and involves a lot of problems for separated military people. Keeping this in view you must plan your transition to civilian career while still in military service. To let you adapt to civilian like in a better way the government has various assistance programs that allow you to earn a college degree, gain vocational skills or get technical education in your free time while you continue serving the nation. Innovative technological advancements in computers and the Internet allow you to undertake educational programs from any place in the world through the distance-learning mode that you can complete at your own pace. Subject to certain conditions the government takes care of all your training and educational expenses in order to give you every opportunity to prepare yourself for a desirable post military career.
In pursuance of these objectives the government also provides assistance to spouses of serving personnel who want to prepare themselves for high demand careers that can greatly help the serviceman family’s transition to civilian life and also provide military spouses with jobs following military moves as long as the member remains in service. There are a number of accredited institutions in the country that offer educational and training courses to military spouses under the CAA (Career Advancement Accounts) that funds the educational expenses of military spouses of active duty military personnel under the Military Spouse Career Advancement Initiative.
The CAA program is geared to provide military spouses with portable career opportunities. A ‘portable career’ is one that has a credential which is recognized in several states and for which job opportunities can be found across the nation. A number of ‘high demand occupations’ that exist in several ‘high growth industries’ for military spouses have been identified by the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor. These are selected high growth industries, which are expected to add a large number of jobs to the economy. These are industries that offer the widest scope in portable careers.
The high demand occupations within these industries are growing at a pace much faster than average creating high employee demand.
Five industries have been identified by the government and categorizes as ‘hi-growth’. These include Financial Services, Health Care, Information Technology, Construction and Education.
Given below is a list of portable careers under each separate category. The list is not exhaustive but provides a fair idea of available job opportunities for qualified military spouses and is important from the point of eligibility for funding under Career Advancement Accounts. Any occupation under these industries is eligible for CAA funding.
Financial Services:- Credit Analyst, Claims Adjusters, Bookkeeping, Accounting and Auditing Clerks, Bank Teller, Tax preparer etc.
Health Care:- Dental Hygienist, Radiology Technician, Practical/Vocational Nurse, Pharmacy Technician etc.
Information Technology:- Database Administrator, Data Communications Analyst, Computer Support Specialist etc.
Construction:- Pipe fitters, Steamfitters, HVAC mechanics and Installers, etc.
Education:- Teacher’s Aide/Assistant, Child Care Worker etc.
Some occupations outside the above industries but falling under the CAA ‘in-demand occupations’ are also eligible for CAA funding support.
By: Smartie Arties
Employers High Demand for Students and Workers With an Informational and Technical Education in the Emerging 21st Century
September 29th, 2009Years ago people could live a productive life, save for retirement and build a nest egg without a high school diploma or little to none formal education.
See, when I was a youngster, my mother worked 2 to 3 jobs to provide for our family. The challenges of her younger life and family prevented her from obtaining her high school diploma because she had to help take care of her siblings. Yet, in her late thirties and early forties, my mother studied for the GED, passed the Board and later received technical and occupational training as a medical transcriptionist and tax-preparer. Due to economic demands and financial shifts, my mother again in her late forties, early fifties received training as a nurse practitioner. However, today just to stay afloat in her industry, she is developing herself to receive her RNA license at sixty years of age. See, my mother is a prime example and parody of the educational and employment changes facing students and workers in today’s developing 21st Century Economy and Workforce.
Nowadays, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a governmental framework that addresses the achievement gap. The achievement gap is the educational inequalities and the low academic performance between students in urban districts and suburban districts, as well as students with disabilities such as me. The NCLB focusing on standardizing education to insure every child has an accessible and appropriate education to support the notion that the every child must have the fundamental skills to succeed. But, in the next years, the American schools’ initiatives are changing. The Government/State is investing billions of dollars in the DOL, NIST, DoE SC, DOE, and NSF to provide specialized training and programs for students and workers who must develop and refine their skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences to handle the new demands of technology and product innovations, global business, and the emerging marketplace. As a result of the growing frustrations and needs for technical and informational workers, the high school diploma is shifting to certify that students are qualified to perform advance ‘applied’ skills, as well as be prepared for successful employment and constant career growth. Now, here’s the prevailing dilemma.
Employers complain that many college graduates are not prepared for the marketplace and lack the new set of skills necessary for successful employment and continuous career growth. Only 6 percent of todays jobs do not require at least completion of high school, which means for a student without the adequate skills, he/she will not be eligible to even apply for 94 percent of job openings. The U.S. Department of Labor forecasts that by 2012 the U.S. economy will have the largest workforce in the nation’s history culminating to more than 162 million people. However, it will not be enough to fill the 2 million job openings projected to be available. In order words, millions of jobs are expected to go unfilled because workers lack the specialized skills required to fill them. Alarming, the U.S. government predictions show a shortage of more than 10 million skilled workers by 2012.
So, how can we get geared up to handle this pandemic? I believe the greatest strategy is to address these challenges from a 360 feedback/survey strategy. This strategy is used in business to track and evaluate the total quality management (TQM) of the organization’s performance, company health and managerial leadership. In order words, parents, teachers, administrators, business leaders, professionals, legislators, policy-makers and governmental figures must collectively and collaboratively retool and refine students and workers. We must create support systems, supplemental statewide and schoolwide programs; use flexible, individualized educational planning strategies; enhance parental training, awareness and advocacy; work with career and counseling centers, as well as form strategic partnership with youth service organizations; merge youth/personal and professional development systems in the educational curriculum; implement and increase community-based vocational training (CBVT), job-shadowing, mentorships/apprenticeships, on-the-job training (OJT), and realistic job preview (RJP) and job rotation programs; teach students early about effective career planning, development and management, life skills development, professional learning and integrative life planning (ILP), and expose students and workers to talent management, performance management and succession planning tools and resources . In fact, observations show many high-schoolers, college graduates; adults and professionals lack the critical knowledge of the workings and usefulness of the available resources and tools to help them be equipped and competitive in the 21st Century Economy and Workforce.
If America is going to remain a Super Power and a Global Competitor in the developing 21st Century, then we must invest in the interpersonal skills development and intrapreneurial spirit and welfare of our students and workers.
By: Rashid Brown
