Pedagogical Pluses in Vocational Education. Working Papers.

Overview & Synopsis

Vocational education has many pedagogical advantages over academic education in meeting three critical conditions of excellence. The first critical condition is student involvement. Most vocational education programs tend to involve students intensely and personally with peers and teachers. The natural advantage most vocational education has over academic education is that much of it consists of problem solving, a form of active learning. Both vocational and academic students must be able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information. The second critical condition is feedback between the teacher, the student, and the institution. An advantage that vocational education has in this area is that it develops the student's ability to perform a given procedure, which is usually observable, assessable, and indicative of whether students can apply their learning. Classroom research, such as "minute papers" and self-diagnostic learning logs provide feedback and require students to engage in the higher-level learning activities of synthesis, application, and evaluation. The third critical condition is high standards. Education at all levels is often criticized for its lack of standards and high expectations. Vocational educators have a pedagogical plus in the form of external licensing procedures that sometimes exist and in advisory committees, which can provide an outside check on the quality of student performance. (Contains 11 references.) (CML)