Goodbye Vocational School: City Shifts Focus to Career and Technical Ed
(DNAINFO) Amy Zimmer –
Don’t call it vocational school anymore.
It’s now known as Career and Technical Education.
Public school programs that teach skilled trades are focusing more on applied science and technology — and figuring out how to adapt their lessons to these rapidly changing fields. Instead of learning how to use wrenches in auto-mechanics class, for instance, students now need to study things like electric car design.
But making sure these programs are aligned with the 21st century job market means their teachers need to be re-trained.
This summer, about 100 city teachers will be attending boot camps run by companies like Adobe (for graphic arts), Apple (for educational technology foundations), theGreater New York Automotive Dealers Association (for automotive technology) and C-Tech (for IT training), Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday with leaders from the teachers union and business community at an event held at the Downtown headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers.
“This is about coming to a reckoning about the importance of career and technical education in today’s world, and a redefinition of what it means for today’s world,” de Blasio said.