In Search of Vocational Teacher Education.

Overview & Synopsis

A study that was part of a larger research project about vocational teacher education used institutional, state, and national statistics and studies to provide an overview of vocational teacher education. Included were enrollment data about vocational teacher education in subject-specific program areas traditionally identified with vocational teacher education. Some of the findings and conclusions of the study were the following: (1) U.S. colleges and universities have greatly diminished their capacity to prepare teachers for vocational and technical education programs, enrollments in teacher education have declined, and large numbers of programs have been eliminated; (2) many programs were and are now single-subject, one-teacher educator programs often attached to a department that is not primarily engaged in training teachers, and producing few teachers; (3) some evidence shows that vocational teacher education programs that are included in the same department with other teacher education programs are better funded and more stable than programs attached to other schools than education; (4) vocational teacher education programs in state-supported, land-grant universities affiliated with the University Council on Vocational Education have recently experienced enrollment growth and increased support; (5) there probably will not be a shortage of vocational education teachers as a result of program cuts, although there may be a shortage of teachers trained in technology; and (6) no clearly focused conceptual framework for vocational teacher education exists in U.S. colleges and universities. (Contains 25 references.) (KC)