National Training Framework and Vocational Education and Training Term Paper

National Training Framework and Vocational Education and Training Workplace - Term Paper Example Vocational teachers, for the most part--and certainly those who teach in trade, industrial, manufacturing and health occupations programs--did not (and do not today) have to follow the same teacher preparation or state certification rules as did other public school teachers. Throughout the 75-year history of federally supported vocational education, occupational teachers were employed primarily because they had years of extensive experience in a craft or profession--such as auto mechanic, cosmetologist, medical technician, carpenter, nurse, electrician or mason. When college degrees were deemed a minimal requirement for teachers in most states and in most subjects, vocational education was granted an exception. In effect, then, vocational and technical education always has had a nontraditional or alternative approach to preparing and certifying its teaching force. This is an approach that dates to 1917, promulgated by Charles Prosser, the first administrative director of the board, who believed that teachers trade experience would correlate with student outcomes. Today, some vocational-technical educators subscribe to that philosophy, while others lean more toward John Dewey, who promoted a more general education to prepare teachers to help students ready themselves for a lifetime of learning and change. A way of approaching (vocational) training that places primary emphasis on what a person can do as a result of training (the outcome), and as such represents a shift away from an emphasis on the process involved in training (the inputs). It is concerned with training to industry-specific standards rather than an individuals achievement relative to others in the group. (Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 1992)Â