ERIC Number: ED221717
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1982-Jul
Pages: 190
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Implementing School-to-Work Transition Skills for Disadvantaged Youth. Final Report. Vocational-Technical Education Research Report, Volume 20, Number 5.
Wircenski, Jerry L.; And Others
A study was conducted to expand and disseminate the school-to-work transition skill activities begun in a 1980-81 project in Pennsylvania by focusing on two groups: vocational instructors and disadvantaged vocational students. Questionnaires were created and mailed to 903 teachers, with a 50 percent usable response; while a student survey was sent to 8,079 disadvantaged students with a usable questionnaire return rate of about 59 percent. In addition, interviews were conducted with 10 randomly selected students from a regional vocational technical school. The study found that vocational teachers were spending the greatest amount of time on school-to-work transition skills that could be classified as behavioral characteristics and that were important to successful entry-level employment. Job search skills were being taught second to pre-employment transition skills, while skills important for growth and promotion on the job were almost neglected, as were life skills. Teachers seemed to be comfortable with the skills they were teaching and the amount of time spent with each. Students appeared to be learning those school-to-work transition skills that vocational teachers say they were teaching, but students appeared to be very weak in some job search skills. Based on the data collected and the conclusions drawn, recommendations were made that vocational teachers should be ready to teach 123 school-to-work transition skills as part of the curriculum, that vocational teachers need to be aware of the home life and needs of disadvantaged learners, and that some provision should be made for the teaching of these skills to all vocational students. (KC)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Research Coordinating Unit for Vocational Education, Harrisburg.
Authoring Institution: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park. Div. of Occupational and Vocational Studies.
Identifiers - Location: Pennsylvania
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A