Career Education, Vocational Education, and Occupational Education: An Approach to Defining Differences. Distinguised Lecture Series No. 2.

Overview & Synopsis

Career education consists of all those activities and experiences through which one learns about work; vocational education, those through which one learns about a primary work role; and occupational education, those through which one learns to work in the world of paid employment. The three terms imply a progressive narrowing of purpose. The goals of career education are to make work possible, meaningful, and satisfying. Vocational education--skill acquisition--is a major part of the bedrock of career education. Integration requires academic teachers to recognize preparation for work as a basic goal of American education, and vocational teachers must find and emphasize the commonality of purpose in education that binds them with all other educators. The basic problem career education asks today's vocational educators to face is the problem of deciding to change; there are two basic choices: one would be to emphasize vocational education as preparation for primary work goals, abandoning the traditional criterion that it should lead to gainful employment and making industrial arts, home economics, agriculture, and experiences for the "college-bound" a basic part of vocational education. The other choice would be to label the field "occupational education." Mutual dependence requires change in both fields. (Author)