School Guidance Counselors' Perceptions of Postsecondary Vocational and Technical Education and Factors that Contribute to These Perceptions.

Overview & Synopsis

To determine the degree of school counselors' favorableness toward postsecondary vocational-technical education and to identify factors from counselors' backgrounds that are related to their perceptions of vocational-technical education, questionnaires were mailed to all Colorado secondary school counselors who devoted at least half their time to counseling and all full-time postsecondary teachers in vocational-technical education programs. Results from 83 percent of the counselors and 72 percent of the teachers revealed that the teachers' perceptions of postsecondary occupational education were significantly more favorable, and they were more sensitive to criticism than the counselors, while the counselors were more favorable than teachers to the need for greater enrollment in occupational education. There were significant relationships between counselors' perceptions of postsecondary occupational education and their knowledge of occupational education and their study of vocational counseling and occupational information. The data indicated tendencies toward relationships between favorableness to postsecondary occupational education and (1) the length of time the counselor had worked in commerce or industry, (2) length of time as a counselor, (3) sex, and (4) number of hours of preparation in job placement. (Author/SB)