A Comparison of Public School Teachers' and University Students' Attitudes Toward Career Education.

Overview & Synopsis

The requirements of career education hit practicing teachers in Florida long before universities began to indicate an interest in their dilemma. Since career education is a concept that can potentially alter teaching strategies and emphases, the study proposed to assess the present attitude toward career education concepts of a group of public school teachers and of a sample of university students in the process of being trained for public teaching positions. The results indicate a significant difference in the two populations. Undergraduate students were more favorable toward career education than the public school teachers. This difference raises questions about attitudinal changes of teachers and about occupational awarenes before entering the teaching field. An investigation of these questions by education departments within universities is needed due to the trend toward continual, life-long education in our present society. Data for this study were obtained through administration of the "Career Education Survey" and were analyzed by multivariance, the survey instrument and a table representing the component analysis are appended to the document. (Author/AJ)