Policy Borrowing for the Career and Technical Education Sector

• In Event: Exploring and Testing More Comprehensive Policy Frameworks for Career and Technical Education

Abstract

A group of policymakers in the U.S. now advocate multiple pathways for technical college training and career readiness, broadening the current college-for-all norm with its single-minded attention to ratcheting-up core academic skills in a one-track, standards-based curriculum. The reformers’ perspective was derived from cross-cultural examinations of the vocational education and training sector recently published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This paper (a) describes some of the findings from the 17-country OECD study, and (b) explores the National Center for Education and the Economy model derived from international comparisons of academic achievement in high-performing countries. The OECD reports might well be a starting point for a policy borrowing process in career and technical education.

Authors

• Richard D. Lakes, Georgia State University

• Antje Barabasch, Georgia State University