Vocational/Technical Education for the 21st Century.

Overview & Synopsis

Teacher education and teachers, particularly vocational and technical education teachers, must keep abreast of the trends and changes in the workforce and employment needs around the world. Education must be geared toward helping individuals to explore their options and to continue learning throughout their life span. This flexibility is needed as the world becomes increasingly technological and concepts learned today become obsolete tomorrow. Four major changes that may affect vocational education and training involve: (1) the invalid expectation of continuous lifetime employment of all workers; (2) the need for a better theoretical understanding in certain fields; (3) a greater emphasis on human and social factors; and (4) informed technical education. Technology education can help pupils fulfill their individual potential, raise overall national levels of educational attainment, bring about greater equality of educational opportunity, and foster social and cultural cohesion. Basic conditions for such education includes common standards for technology as an educational subject, standardization in electronic hardware and software, willingness of industrialized nations to assist developing nations, and cooperation between science- and work-related disciplines for the development of educational programs. (CB)