The purpose of this study was to investigate existing work-oriented programs for the educationally deficient in the state of Indiana, to review related literature concerning such vocationally-oriented programs, and to explore the implications for future directions in program planning and implementation.The reserach was planned to answer questions pertaining to four major levels of investigation: 1) program and coordinatore identification, 2) analysis of program structure, 3) descriptive analysis of students and 4) curriculum content. An eighteen item questionnaire was devised to gather descriptive data pertaining to these four areas.The questionnaire was sent to seventy-nine Special Education Cooperatives and/or Unified Public School Systems in Indiana as identified by the Division of Special Education, Indiana Department of Public Instruction, 1974-75 school year. From the seventy-nine questionnaires mailed, sixty-six percent of the Co-ops or Single Unified Systems responded.The first level of information analyzed concerned existing or planned programs, specific program locations in the state, identifying terminology, and information concerning personnel and their certification. All Systems responding, except one, stated that they did have some type of program for educationally deficient students at the secondary level. In fifty-eight percent of the systems, Pre-Vocational Education (P.V.E.) was the term which titled the program. Anotherthirty-five percent used the more standard label of Special Education while twenty-five percent chose Work-Study. Other labels were closely associated with Vocational Education.All professional Personnel were certified teachers with twenty-seven systems reporting that their personnel held certification in the field of special education and twenty-five systems had a wide diversity of educational certification held by their personnel. One might assume that persons with certification in special education were not abundant at the time when a large majority of these programs were initiated. The title held by these professionals closely corresponded with the program title; P.V.E., Special Education, and Work-Study. Only small differences were discernible between the total number of males and females working as professionals in the programs.Level two contained information concerning program operation and length of service with the system. Finances and program management were also questioned with regard to local, state, and federal regulations. Nearly thirty-one percent of the systems reporting had some structured program for more than seven years. Most of these long term programs are operating in large metropolitian areas and are single system units. Another twenty-eight percent of the systems responding had been operating some secondary work-oriented programs between two and three years. It would appear that these more recent programs have been developed in preparation for the special education mandate or since the promulgation of the mandate in Indiana.Nearly eighty percent of the programs were financed from twelve to one hundred percent by the school corporation. Most school systems accepted between forty-three to fifty-five percent of the financial obligation. Only three systems obtained federal grants and this money was ear-marked for specific additions to an already existing program. Seventy-five percent of the systems were applying and receiving between twenty to sixty percent of their program finances from the Department of Public Instruction.Nearly one half of those responding systems were receiving aid in widely varying amounts from either Indiana Vocational Education or Indiana Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Both Departments have criteria upon which program funding assistance can be obtained. However, these criteria seem to lack consistency among those programs which are receiving financial benefits.Level three refers to specific information concerning students who are enrolled in work-oriented programs. Seventy-five percent of the students are enrolled in these public school programs at the secondary level between three and four years. Most of the programs appear to be structured as four-year programs. The length of enrollment varied from one to six years which may mean that pupils in soem systems may continue as long as they can show progress toward meeting program goals, or that the pupils enter the program at the junior high level.The students who are enrolled in work-oriented programs tend to cluster between the chronological ages of fifteen to nineteen inclusively. Most programs adhere to State Rules and Regulations concerning intelligence quotients for students which are between 50-79. Criteria beside that of I.Q. scores were used to determine placement in some systems, suggesting that there are more complexities in dealing with handicapped children than a single test score might indicate.Much of the literature suggests that most educationally deficient persons fall into more than one classification and this data seems to support these same findings inasmuch as a number of systems checked several categories of handicaps for their students. Forty-six of the systems reported that eighty-eight percent of their students were classified as being mentally retarded. The second largest group were classified as slow learning. One assumption can be made from this evidence; these students received higher than state standards indicating retardation on intelligence tests but still required individualized programs in order to achieve academic success and enter into the employment field.Approximately eighty-two percent of the programs are operating in a regular high school facility. Less than one-third of the programs provide work-shop facilities. More than three-fourths of those systems responding place their students on jobs either within the school or in the community.Level four concerned curriculum development. More than ninety-eight percent were utilizing some type of mainstreaming technique. The courses of Home Economics, Industrial Arts, Health & Safety, Art, Music, and Physical Education proved to be the most frequently used for the integration of educationally deficient students.According to the literature available, pre-vocational education programs seem to be providing a rewarding experience for educationally deficient students at the secondary level. It is generally agreed that goals of social and vocational competencies can be enhanced by use of a work-study contact for the adolescent because such an arrangement gives real meaning to public school attendance. Work-oriented programs are structured to provide those types of educational courses and actual job training which will later prepare the student for the world of work The pre-vocational phase of the program cultivates those work habits and specific occupational skills which make it possible for the student to be gainfully employed.Research indicates that the educationally deficient student has the potential of limited academic education, vocational training, and employability. However, he lacks sufficient skills, appropriate attitudes, and self-confidence in order to maintain an economically independent and/or socially acceptable life style without supervision and guidance from other sources. Upon graduation from the work-study program, each student should be able to take his place in society on a meaningful, rewarding level, capable and willing to assume the responsibility that will be demanded of him as an adult.From the sixty-six percent of responses received, it seems evident that there has been activity in Indiana to develop work-oriented programs for educationally deficient students at the secondary level. Adequate job placement which is suited to the individual's physical and mental capacities is the final goal.On the basis of the study it is recommended that a more uniform and reliable funding system be established to support work-oriented programs, that follow-up studies on program graduates be initiated, and that both pre-service and in-service programs be developed to upgrade the competencies of professional personnel associated with work-oriented programs.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

The purpose of this study was to develop operational guidelines for the construction of an area vocational-technical school. The data collected were incorporated into an outline of a manual concerned with the construction of an area vocational-technical school.The research was planned to outline, with the use of systems, the constructing, equipping, and operating phases of an area school. A questionnaire was sent to the administrative head of twenty four selected schools to collect data concerned with constructing, equipping and operating their vocational-technical schools. After the questionnaire responses were tabulated and reported, a summary was given showing how each part was dependent upon the whole. A sequence of the thr9e phases was set up to show how each phase was dependent upon the whole for completion of the project.Tie greatest expressed concern in the category of construction was the planning of a facility with a specific educational program in mind. Major concerns in the category of equipment dealt with space requirements and written specifications to be drawn up.In the operation of a facility, high priority was given to the establishment of a governing board and to the availability of funds for actual operational costs.In addition to the questionnaires, a personal interview was conducted with a superintendent of schools; a secondary school principal; and a representative from each of the following categories: labor, management, city council, teachers other than vocational, a school board member, and a chamber of commerce. The interviews were used to determine the degree of awareness of vocational-technical principles and of problems that need to be considered before building an area vocational-technical school in a specific community. While the author had to define some terms to the people being interviewed, these people were experts in at least one of the following areas: School Administration, Superintendent; School Administration, School Board; School Administration, High School Principal; School Instruction, Academic Instructor; Community, Labor Leader; Community, City Council; Community, Management; Community, Chamber of Commerce.In Chapter V of the paper the initial draft of "A Manual for Initial Development of an Area Vocational-Technical School" was outlined. The text of the manual included the philosophy of an area school, the components of a feasibility study, use of existing facilities and equipment, selecting and obtaining new facilities and equipment, curriculum development, legal counsel, bid procedures, laboratory design, related classrooms, operation of a facility, revenue from all sources, expenditures by accounts, and supporting services.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2001

Thesis (MSocSc (ApplSocRes))--University of South Australia

Thesis (MEd)--University of South Australia, 1998

Thesis (MEd (Human Resource Studies))--University of South Australia, 1990

The thesis that emerges from the publications nominated for examination, is that a holistic or integrated competency based approach to vocational education and training (VET) and professional education (both initial and continuing) has many advantages over traditional approaches: * It provides a curriculum framework which links practice to theory in more coherent ways than currently exist; * It potentially provides a way of breaking the old dichotomy between 'knowing that' and 'knowing how' which has characterised Anglo-Saxon education and which has resulted in the belief that education which is practical is both different from and inferior to that which is abstract; * It provides the basis for teaching and learning approaches which could enhance students' adaptability and flexibility over their lives; * It has the potential for developing in occupational education more valid assessment strategies than those traditionally used and also for reducing the deleterious effects on learning of measurement-based assessment approaches. In summary, it is argued that the integrated approach to competency-based education provides a conceptual base for the competency movement and a promising direction for educational reform for all levels of occupational education. It is further argued that competency standards developed through an integrated approach can facilitate the implementation of a number of other areas of social and economic policy, such as the recognition of qualifications of overseas professionals in Australia, and the internationalisation of professional services. Overview of the publications The publications span a six-year period from 1990 to 1996. The first of them was written at a time when there was very little literature in the area (and virtually none in Australia) and when there was a great deal of confusion about the nature of competency, how to develop competency standards and the implications of the competency approach for education and training. What literature did exist, was mostly twenty years old and was largely a reaction against educational curricula which, it was felt, had failed to adequately prepare students for occupations or for life more generally. In place of a curriculum based on the acquisition of knowledge most of the critics suggested that curriculum should be based on an analysis of what people needed to do. Conceptually, as Wolf (1995) and others have pointed out, it was based on a niave reductionism arising out of behaviourist approaches to education. This approach was quite powerful for a brief period in the 1970s in teacher education programs in the United States. However the challenge to behaviourism from cognitive and humanist approaches to learning seemed to undermine the conceptual basis of the competency movement and very little was written about competency approaches until the late 1980s. As Raven (1996) has recently pointed out, the literature on competency-based education which has appeared recently is also a reaction against 'something that is sensed to be wrong' (p.74). But what this is, what needs to be achieved and how this could be done is not clear. He suggests that the contemporary competency literature lacks a conceptual and analytical base and that there is little recognition of the need for a research program which develops a better understanding of the nature of competence, how it might be developed in individuals, how it might be assessed and what impact this would have on individuals, organisations and society generally. It is these issues that the publications submitted for examination have addressed. They have attempted to provide a conceptual base for competency-based education and a framework for how competency might be developed and assessed. Much of the recent literature in Australia has built on the approach which the publications originated. The publications can be divided into those dealing with the nature of competency, particularly the integrated model, (a, b, d, e) those dealing with curriculum and teaching issues (b, j) and those dealing with assessment of competence (c, f, h, i, k). The theme which unites them, is the integrated approach to competency and its capacity to provide a coherent framework for improved educational practices in all occupational education. Another possible way of categorising the publications would be by educational level. For reasons associated with the traditional division of labour in our workforces we tend to think about the differences between educational levels rather than the similarities. It is usual to think about higher education for example, even when it prepares people for occupations, as substantially different from other occupational education. This is underlined by the fact that there is no term, in common usage, to encompass both what is currently referred to as middle level or vocational education, and education for the professions. Despite its specific nature, professional education is often identified with academic and general education, while vocational education is identified with practical education and is assumed to be devoid of substantial theoretical content. In fact much of higher education for the professions is practical and much vocational education is grounded in theory, even if it is not always made explicit. A conclusion which I believe can be drawn from these publications as a whole is that the difference between higher education for the professions and vocational education for middle level occupations is one of degree rather than one of kind. Obviously most professional work is more complex than work at, say, trades level. But it is better to conceptualise these levels on a continuum rather than to see them as essentially different. There will be many instances when professionals need to do things which are routine where simple competencies are used. Conversely many tradespeople will need to use complex combinations of competencies to solve challenging problems. Hence, it is not useful to divide the publications into those dealing specifically with the professions (of which there are six- a, b, c, d, g, i) and those dealing with issues relevant to all sectors of education (of which there are five- e, f, h, j, k). What the publications have to say about the nature of competency, how to develop competency through curricula and teaching and how to assess it, is broadly applicable to all occupational education irrespective of the context in which it is discussed.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1973. / Bibliography: leaves 88-94.

Thesis (M.St.Wel.)--University of Melbourne, Faculty of Education, 2001. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-124).