Understanding Community College Students' Acquisition of Job Skills From a Career Capital Perspective

• In Event: Postsecondary Career and Technical Education Student Success

Abstract

Using data from the 2014 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), we examined traditional and nontraditional students’ experiences in terms of three ways of knowledge accumulation (i.e., knowing why, how, and whom) from a career capital perspective (Inkson & Arthur, 2001). Results showed that traditional and nontraditional students shared commonalities as well as differences in three ways of knowing. Work-based learning contributed the most to students’ perceived acquisition of job skills, followed by updating job skills as the purpose of attending the community college.

Authors

• Xue Xing, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Howard R. Gordon, University of Nevada - Las Vegas