Concern about the state of career and technical education (CTE) teacher preparation programs includes the declining capacity to adequately train teachers who are equipped to implement the new vocationalism in an atmosphere of educational reform. The present study was conducted to update a similar study by Lynch (1990) and to give insight into the status of CTE teacher preparation in the United States, especially into the capacity to prepare new CTE teachers and to determine the curricular emphasis. The CTE teacher preparation curriculum was compared to the areas outlined by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (1997) in Vocational Education Standards for National Board Certification. Participants in this study were teacher educators with administrative responsibilities in CTE teacher preparation programs at post-secondary institutions in the US. Data were collected via a survey designed to gather information about a program’s demographics, administration, curricular status, certification criteria, and methods of course delivery.

Data were received from 227 programs at 164 institutions, representing a 44% return. The respondents reported that their teacher preparation programs remain very traditional in the structure and delivery of their courses. However, they also noted that they planned to double their distance education course offerings via the World Wide Web within the next three years. With an average of six credits per program, the teacher preparation curriculum had an emphasis on academic-technical integration, an area that did not appear in the curriculum ten years ago. Over all, the number of CTE teacher preparation programs had declined about 11% over the past ten years.

Bruening, T. H., Scanlon, D. C., Hodes, C., Dhital, P., Shao, X., & Liu, S.-T. (2001, April). The status of career and technical education teacher preparation programs. St. Paul, MN: National Research Center for Career and Technical Education, University of Minnesota.

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