Using Community-Wide Collaborative Councils for the Professional Development of Vocational Educators.

Overview & Synopsis

One of the major developments in the effort to link the workplace and education has been the formation of community-based councils, primarily industry-education councils and work-education councils. These councils have generally focused their efforts on easing the transition of youth from education to work. They have also been organized to assist educational institutions in career education, staff/curriculum development, career guidance, occupational information, school-based job placement, and student work experience. Vocational education can benefit significantly from the experience gained in education/work by the variety of community-wide advisory councils cited previously. Industry-education councils and other community-wide advisory mechanisms offer vocational educators the type of linkage to the workplace that can lead to effective programmatic change consistent with employer expectations. There are four areas which should be considered in discussing professional development of vocational educators within the context of the industry-education cooperation movement and community-wide collaborative councils: (1) an assessment of the major changes in the marketplace as a requirement for occupational planning; (2) an examination of economic policies and the problem of the unskilled and underemployed; (3) an analysis of two major community support systems to the education/work effort; and (4) suggested council-vocational education initiatives in professional development. (BM)