Building an Academe and Government Partnership in Workforce Education: Challenges and Possibilities

Overview & Synopsis

In 2004, the College of Education at Oklahoma State University began the task of building a partnership with the Defense Ammunition Center (DAC) in McAlester, Oklahoma, and implementing research-driven, experience-based workforce education. In this article, the authors describe unique features and challenges of this multi-year University/Government collaboration which is aligned with the mission and goals of National Association of Industrial Technical Teacher Education (NAITTE), and provide an overview of workforce education initiatives the partnership seeks to refine. This paper can serve as a possible model and catalyst for further discussion and research in workforce education particularly in times of dwindling resources, increased demands on time and the importance of research activities at many institutions. The authors present examples from qualitative research findings that will be used to ground improvements in workforce education at the DAC site: worker perceptions of critical competencies and mentoring necessary to fulfill job responsibilities. The authors hope that these "lessons from the field" serve other workforce education programs, underscore the importance of context and industry mission in workforce education programs, and provide specific information about the partnership that may inform the development of University/government collaborations in other contexts.