With national education policy (NEP) in frame, their is much which schools can offer to their students. The schools can think of offering career and technical education program by forming clusters.
Due to Career and Technical Education Program, students will be able to explore different career options and fields of interest, learn soft skills that are highly valuable in the job market, and earn industry-recognized certifications. Ultimately students can make a smarter decision about which colleges to pursue. It allows students to explore different, often less traditional career options, find their passions, and leave high school with a much clearer picture of what comes next!
With new technology, job markets are shifting and the skills gap is ever-present. In fact, more than half of the nation’s fastest growing careers, like jobs in healthcare, require education below a bachelor’s degree.
A student must be able to make themselves marketable for these jobs provided they are given career and technical education programs.
Students have the opportunity to learn skills that prepare them specifically for in-demand careers in fields like healthcare, infrastructure and information technology. They should gain work-based learning experiences like job shadowing, mentorships, and internships and can earn college credit or achieve certification in a specific industry.
The programs all of which lead to in-demand careers can be
- Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
- Architecture & Construction
- Arts, A/V Technology & Communications
- Business Management & Administration
- Education & Training
- Finance
- Government & Public Administration
- Health Science
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Human Services
- Information Technology
- Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security
- Manufacturing
- Marketing
- Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
- Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
These programs can be offered by forming clusters of schools and junior colleges for which they have the supporting mechanism.
Need for Career and Technical Education Program
- Help students explore their career options
- Build right technical skills at younger age
- Develop professionalism
- Develop life skills
- Helps in choosing colleges for higher education
Teachers Training: There is need to train teachers in career and technical education programs. Most important part of this training must be that the teachers should be provided work experience in the subject that they teach. Public school teachers may be required to have a state-issued teaching certification or license which will help in controlling the quality at large scale. Teachers can work with local businesses and nonprofit organizations to provide practical work experience for students. For example, welding instructors must teach students various welding techniques and essential safety practices. They also need to monitor the use of tools and equipment, and have students practice procedures until they meet the specific standards required by the trade.
Career and technical education teachers must be able to
- Create lesson plans and assignments
- Instruct students on how to develop certain skills
- Show how to apply classroom knowledge through hands-on activities
- Demonstrate and supervise the safe and proper use of tools and equipment
- Monitor students’ progress, assign tasks, and grade assignments
- Discuss students’ progress with parents, students, and counselors
- Develop and enforce classroom rules and safety procedures
The schools can rather have ti-ups with various small scale businesses and individual technical experts and provide them the necessary licensing to facilitate such programs. This will help them to generate a skill hub at local level without hampering the academic curriculum.
Certification: At some level in schooling the schools must be able to provide a certificate, a diploma or an associate’s degree and prepare them for a specific job.
Career and technical education is the practice of teaching specific tech-based and career-oriented skills to students. Students can take these courses in middle school, high school and junior colleges. In middle school, these courses can be taught as an elective that students can take in addition to their traditional courses. Computer applications courses are especially helpful for middle school students. In high school also it can be taught as an elective, but with much greater variety than you will find in middle school. Than at later stage students can be prepared for certifications that will qualify them for specific careers.
Unlike traditional and university-based education that focuses on theory, career and technical education must focuse on skills. The bulk of a career and technical education consists of hands-on experience, practice and application tests. With these programs, students have experience before they start their careers.
