A study to develop a needs assessment and means of implementing a curriculum for trade and industrial education and related areas of occupational education at the University of Houston

The purpose of this study was to develop a needs assessment and means of implementing a curriculum for trade and industrial education and related areas of occupational education at the University of Houston for education, training and certification of trade and industrial teaching personnel, including college credit by testing for occupational competence and professional development courses. An in-depth study of research relating to trade and industrial, vocational, technical and occupational education was made. Findings indicated that needs existed and are expected to increase at all levels across the country for: (1) programs for trade and industrial teacher training; (2) better qualified trade and industrial education teachers; and (3) a systematic and scholarly approach toward research and developmental efforts in occupational education programs. The thirteen-county H-GAC region was chosen as the target area. The University of Houston is centrally located within this metropolitan-industrial complex. Three separate detailed questionnaires were designed to survey the trade and industrial education needs of: (1) 81 independent school districts, 14 public and private community junior colleges, and 31 selected proprietary schools; (2) 23 building trades apprentice training programs; and (3) 178 selected businesses and industries with in-plant training programs and having over 250 employees. Of those surveyed, 100 percent of the school districts, junior colleges, proprietary schools, and building trades apprentice training programs responded; 146 businesses and industries responded, representing 82 percent. Findings from each of the questionnaires were tallied by question and group. Five key questions from all three types of questionnaires were then selected and tallied by total groups. Findings were: (1) all five surveyed groups indicated an increase from 87,629 trade and industrial students in 1973-74 to an estimated 139,720 students in 1978-79 (59 percent); (2) all five surveyed groups indicated an increase from 7,670 full and part time trade and industrial teachers in 1973-74 to 10,478 full and part time teachers in 1978-79 (37 percent); (3) surveyed educational groups reported the need for an estimated 108 additional full and part time trade and industrial teachers in 1973-74 (7 percent of the total number of trade and industrial teachers actually employed in 1973-74) and when the student-teacher ratio of 23 pupils per teacher (1973-74, 1,575 teachers to 36,329 students) was applied, there were possibly 2,400 students routed into other areas because of lack of teachers; (4) the educational groups and the building trades apprentice training group estimated that 198 trade and industrial teachers were holding emergency teaching certificates in 1973-74; (5) the five surveyed groups indicated that 6,064 persons would be interested in competency testing for college credit at the University of Houston, 495 persons would attend the University of Houston for the required certification courses, 888 persons would attend the University of Houston to work on Occupational Education Degrees at both undergraduate and graduate level, and 651 persons would attend the University of Houston for professional development courses. Conclusions of these findings indicated that: (1) a need does exist on a large scale in the target area for trained trade and industrial education teachers and this need is expected to increase over the next five year period 1973-74 through 1978-79; (2) a need exists in the target area for required trade and industrial certification courses to be offered at the University of Houston; and (3) if the University of Houston initiated the Occupational Education Degree programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels with required trade and industrial certification courses, competency testing for college credit, and professional development courses, they would fulfill the needs of and receive the support from the target area educational community, building trades community, and business and industry community. Standards, guidelines, and criteria from national, regional, and state organizations and agencies controlling and influencing curriculum development were presented with particular emphasis on Occupational Education. In order to collate the findings of this study, surveys of selected institutions in Texas were made of: (1) degree programs offered in vocational, industrial, technical, and occupational teacher education; (2) number of students enrolled in trade and industrial teacher education, number of programs offered, and number of faculty responsible for these programs; and (3) number of degrees conferred in industrial, technical and vocational teacher education over the six year period, 1967-68 through 1972-73. Conclusions of these statistics indicated that the two most recently approved trade and industrial certification programs began with a very minimal enrollment and that there was a dearth of people obtaining degrees in industrial, technical, and vocational teacher education in the state of Texas. A brief history of the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute was presented, with statistics indicating the number of college credit hours granted by institutions on national, regional, and state levels. Recommendations of this study include: (1) Occupational Education Degree programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels should be initiated at the University of Houston at the earliest possible date; (2) NOCTI Competency Testing should be incorporated at the University of Houston and scores utilized as a basis for granting college credit and determining occupational competency for trade and industrial teaching; (3) the University of Houston should seek approval from the state Vocational Industrial Education Office of the TEA to offer trade and industrial certification courses since the University of Houston is centrally located within the H-GAC region and easily accessible to those indicating need of certification; (4) recommended curricula for the Bachelor's and Master's degree programs in Occupational Education was presented for implementation at the University of Houston; (5) an advisory committee should be established to coordinate Occupational Education degree programs at the University of Houston responsive to the needs of educational institutions, labor unions, and business and industry to add impetus to the programs; (6) facilities and equipment in existence at the University of Houston should be utilized in initiating these Occupational Education degree programs; personnel could be selected from those presently employed in vocational-industrial teaching positions within the H-GAC region; and existing library resources at the University of Houston would be adequate for the proposed programs; (7) the University of Houston could be a participant in a Consortium of other institutions presently offering trade and industrial certification courses. Recommendations for further research included: (1) a study concerning the high percentage of trade and industrial teacher turnover in the H-GAC region to examine the reasons these teachers give for leaving teaching positions, length of time employed in teaching, where they went, and why; and (2) determination of the feasibility of nationally standardized trade and industrial teacher certification courses to allow uniformity and reciprocity between the states.