The problem with which this investigation is concerned is to identify attitudes held by superintendents and principals in Texas public schools toward career education. Particular attention is given to the nature of career education and the development of career education from the management structure point of view. The emphasis of this study is determining what would be desirable in the planning and establishing of new directions and structures for career education in Texas public schools.

This thesis argues that the primary importance placed on skills as a panacea for economic growth is a misplaced emphasis, situated within an employability and skills narrative that has so far failed to deliver on its claims. Furthermore, the failure to acknowledge and give equal weighting to notions of personal formation and human flourishing, in other than financial terms, has resulted in a one-dimensional dominant political discourse that depicts a reductionist view of higher education and impoverishes the concept of employability. The government-commissioned reviews and reports examined for this study chart the changing nature of this discourse over a fifty year period (1963-2013), as it moves away from the holistic vision for higher education set out in the Robbins Report (Robbins, 1963), towards a dominant discourse of 'economically valuable skills' (Leitch, 2006, p.44) and the assertion that universities 'should assume an explicit responsibility for facilitating economic growth.' (Witty, 2013, p.6). The philosophical lens through which the concept of employability is examined focuses primarily on the work of David Carr, whose thinking on moral and virtue education serves as the central voice around which other voices and perspectives can be identified and heard, and to show how a virtue ethical approach can form the basis of a credible, alternative employability and skills narrative. By bringing a case study approach into the conceptual analysis of employability, I have been able to interrogate how a particular university perceives and engages with the concept and this has provided unique insights into how universities, through key stakeholders, engage with employability in ways that are complex and negotiated. The term 'nostalgic pragmatism' has been coined in an attempt to convey what I have found to be a sense of yearning for the pre-expansion period of higher education, balanced by recognition of the relative importance of the concept of employability in an era of mass participation.

Persistence to program completion is critical for online students. Retaining online students is a struggle in higher education with online persistence rates being significantly lower than nononline students. In this qualitative case study the perceptions of female graduates who persisted in a fully online allied health program at a career college were investigated. Using Tinto's theory of student departure and self-determination theory, the characteristics, attitudes, and motivations of female online learners explored to discern their perceived success in the online classroom. The research questions focused on participants' perceptions, skills, and attitudes that contribute to their success, experiences with support services, and a review of archival documents to examine existing systems to support this population to gain insight into possible methods to support persistence challenges by designing meaningful learning experiences, to strengthen student persistence and develop faculty for online teaching. Notes from document reviews and semistructured interviews with 12 participants were analyzed and coded using an inductive approach to identify themes in the data. Results of the research indicated that participants used a variety of strategies for success, connected to the campus community, were prepared for online learning, and engaged with learning materials to support persisting to graduation. The findings of this study will influence social change by providing administrators and faculty a 3-day professional development program to strengthen faculties' understanding of online students' needs thereby improving online student support, persistence to degree completion, and graduation. Degree completion will improve career opportunities resulting in a higher quality of life.

The purpose of this study was to (1) select six vocational areas for Career Exploration Work Simulation Units development, hereafter referred to as CEWSU (2) design mock-up sites for CEWSU construction, (3) specify materials to be used in the mock-up, (4) describe tasks to be completed in the simulation exercises, (5) construct six CEWSU simulation units for placement in junior high school career education programs, (6) gather materials and tools to be used in each of the six CEWSU, (7) develop and program cassette tape instructions and flip charts for the CEWSU, (8) field test the CEWSU, (9) revise the CEWSU according to field test results, (10) publish replicable plans for the construction and operation of each CEWSU. The ultimate goal of this project was to design and develop a product for u s e in the public school system. For the final product to be considered effective it had to meet various criteria. The criteria were as follows: The CEWSU had to be self-instructional. The CEWSU had to provide a hands-on experience. The CEWSU had to provide the experience in a short period of time. The CEWSU had to be inexpensive to operate. The CEWSU had to be readily available to youth. The CEWSU had to simulate an actual work experience. The implications from the results indicated that: Not all of the criteria listed above were met by all of the CEWSU. The CEWSU developed in the present study should be reprogrammed for use with the developmentally disabled child. Many more CEWSU, for career exploration, should be designed and developed in other vocational areas than those covered in the present project.

<p>The thesis took the general question of responsive curriculum development which meets both the needs of work and those of the academy as its starting point. The rationale for the topic flows out of education policy and societal pressures worldwide which are calling for an ever greater responsiveness from higher education to the workplace in the twenty-first century. Responsiveness to work requires collaborative and integrative work between communities of academic and non-academic practitioners. Differences between knowledge and practices at work and within the academy are broadly acknowledged in the literature, yet the ensuing nature and complexity of interactions between these two communities in curriculum design on the ground is poorly understood. A key point is to recognize that integration as such cannot be the goal / the differences remain, but have to turned into productive collaboration and joint development, for example, of a curriculum.</p>

This study looked at three groups of providers of Adult/Continuing Education (business, government agencies and educational institutions) to see what perceptions they had of the roles each group had assumed in making educational opportunities available to adults. The study also provided a historical perspective of the evolution of each group and their current roles as educators.The study population represented both purveyors and purchasers of education for adults and included officers of major corporations, government training officers, and chief administrative officers of major universities.The investigator used an 181 item questionnaire containing statements about perceptions these three groups of providers of education had about adult education, its administration, and their respective roles in providing that education. The questionnaire was analyzed on a percentage comparison basis. A median was also provided for each question by group.

This study addressed two primary purposes. The first was to establish what effect extended athletic participation had upon the development of career maturity. The second was to determine if remedial educational measures could compensate for any identified deficiencies.A secondary goal involved the unrealistic expectations of intercollegiate athletes of becoming professionals athletes. Thus, it was a final purpose of the study to examine the effects of the treatment upon these expectations.Three directional research hypotheses were developed: (1) Members of the athletic group will score lower on measured levels of career maturity than members of the comparison group. (2) Members of the experimental group, following treatment, will score higher on measured levels of career maturity than members of the control group. (3) Following treatment, fewer members of the experimental group will possess expectations of playing professional sports than will members of the control group.The study was divided into two separate surveys. Survey 1 compared 122 male scholarship basketball and football athletes with 80 undergraduate students. Survey 2 compared 66 randomly selected experimental and control group subjects who were freshman or sophomore football and basketball athletes from the same university. For Survey 2, treatment consisted of attendance in an 11 week class specifically designed to increase levels of career maturity, development, and realistic expectations in athletes. The Counseling Form of the Attitude Scale of the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) was selected as the dependent measure for both surveys.From Survey 1, an analysis of variance demonstrated a significant difference between the athletic group and the comparison group which supported hypothesis 1. Data from Survey 2 were analyzed by a regression analysis which supported hypothesis 2. Results of a X2 analysis of subjects' responses also revealed the experimental group to be more realistic than the control group which supported hypothesis 3.The conclusions were drawn that there was a significant difference between athletes and the general student body on levels of career maturity, that significant changes in career maturity could occur, and that these changes could include a more realistic career choice for athletes who received remedial educational intervention.

The study was designed to obtain information that would be of value to secondary school personnel who provide career counseling and guidance to high school students preparing for post-secondary education, training, and employment. The study attempted to determine if African-American, Anglo, and Hispanic students varied significantly on characteristics that could potentially inhibit career decision-making. The characteristics investigated included career indecision and self-efficacy. Participants included 74 sophomore and senior students from three rural high schools in South Central Texas. Two research questions were investigated to determine if there were significant differences among Anglo, African-American, and Hispanic students on measures of career indecision and self-efficacy. A third research question was investigated to determine if significant differences existed on measures of career indecision and self-efficacy by ethnicity, gender, and grade level, as well as for the interaction of ethnicity, gender, and grade level. A supplementary analysis of the three research questions was conducted including school as an independent variable. The Career Decision Scale and Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale were administered to the participants and the data were analyzed with ANOVA and MANOVA statistical tests. No significant differences were obtained for the three research questions. When the school variable was included in the data analysis, significant main effects differences were found for grade level on self-efficacy and for school on career indecision. The combination of ethnic groups, genders, and grade levels indicated significant differences for the interaction of gender and grade level on self-efficacy and for the interaction of ethnicity and gender on self-efficacy. Middle to high levels of career indecision were reported by 90% of the seniors and 79% of all students in the study. The researcher recommended that career interventions would be valuable to sophomores and seniors in helping them prepare for post-secondary career choices.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2009. / Submitted to the School of Education. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 148 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-80). Also available on the Internet.