1. Dr. Karen Juneau

2. Towards a definition
Formal education, which
includes education for life and
education for earning a living,
represents a vast array of
learning activities and
experiences.
Curriculum is concept that
includes a broad range of
educational activities and
experiences. Baby working at computer
Photo credit: www.haikaladli.co.cc

3. Goals
A the end of this presentation, you will be able to
 Define the concept of curriculum
 Understand the characteristics of career and technical
education programs
 Identify some of the factors that can affect the
effectiveness of these programs

4. Definition
 Curriculum is the sum of the learning activities and
experiences that a learner has under the auspices or
direction of the school or training program
The central
focus of the
curriculum is
the learner.
Photo credit: UC Berkeley News berkeley.edu

5. Informal Elements
 Formal courses are not the only
items considered as parts of the
curriculum in a school setting.
 Clubs, sports, and other co-
curricular activities are significant
contributors to the development
of a total individual and to
curriculum effectiveness.
 Learning and personal growth do
not take place strictly within the
confines of a classroom or
laboratory.

6. Academic AND Career Education
Curriculum includes general
(academic) education as well as
career and technical education.
We consider n should consider not
only what might be offered in
career and technical and
education, but how those
learning activities and
experiences should relate to the
student's more general studies.

7. Educate the Whole Person
It is not enough to have the
curriculum include courses
and experiences that are
exclusively related to career
and technical education.
Consideration must be given
as to how academic and
career and technical
education can work
together. Charles Margerison, Dick McCann, Rod Davies, (1995) "Focus on team appraisal",
Team Performance Management, Vol. 1 Iss: 4, pp.13 – 18 Retrieved from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=882732&show=html

8. Curriculum versus Instruction
 In order to clarify this
definition of curriculum, it is
important to examine how it
may be distinguished from
the concept of instruction.
 curriculum constitutes a
broad range of student
experiences in the school
setting
 instruction focuses on the
delivery of those
experiences. The Curriculum Experience
http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/TLSF/theme_b/m
od06/uncom06t01.htm

9. Curriculum Development
 Curriculum development encompasses broad based
activities that impact on a wide range of programs,
courses, and student experiences.
 Curriculum activities are conducted at a higher level
than instructional development.
 In contrast, instructional development builds on the
curriculum through planning for and preparation of
specific learning experiences within courses.

10. Interrelationships

11. Characteristics of CTE
 We will focus on the
development of career and
technical and technical
education curriculum.
 This is somewhat artificial since
the curriculum is neither
"academic" nor “career and
technical and technical”.
 These are interrelated
experiences for the student.
CTE
Experiences
Youth
organization
General
Education
Experiences

12. Orientation of CTE Programs
 Traditionally, the career and
technical and technical
curriculum has been product or
graduate-oriented.
 The career and technical and
technical curriculum is oriented
toward process (experiences and
activities within the school
setting) and product (effects of
these experiences and activities
on former students).

13. Justification
 Unlike its academic
counterpart, the career and
technical and technical
curriculum is based on
identified occupational
needs of a particular
location.
 These needs are clarified to
the point that no question
exists about the demand for
workers in the selected
occupation or occupational
field
Boat building program image retrieved from
http://www.nwboatschool.org/about/

14. Focus
 Career and technical and
education is not limited to
the development of
knowledge about a
particular area.
 CTE deals directly with
helping the student to
develop a broad range of
knowledge, skills,
attitudes, and values, each
of which ultimately
contributes in some
manner to the graduate's
employability.
Kollewin Blog http://www.kollewin.com/EX/09-15-04/331415_f520.jpg

15. In-School Success Standards
 Although it is important for each student to be
knowledgeable about many aspects of the occupation he
or she will enter, the true assessment of student success in
school must be with 'hands-on" or applied performance.
The Area 30 morning
automotive collision and
services technology class
shows off "Blue on Black,"
their project that took
second place in its class at
the recent World of
Wheels show. The morning
and afternoon automotive
classes worked on the 1996
Camaro Z28.
http://www.bannergraphic.com/s
tory/1614111/photo/1316903.html

16. Out-of-School Success Standards
 A career and technical and
technical curriculum must
also be judged in terms of
its former students'
success.
 Success standards often
take the form of affective
job skills, technical skills,
occupational survival
skills, job search skills, and
entrepreneurial skills. Newly hired mechanics
http://www.mtaplus.com.au/job-seekers/

17. School-Workplace--Community
Relationships
 Since there are a number of
potential "customers" in
the community who are
interested in products
(graduates), the
curriculum must be
responsive to community
needs.
Culinary student http://www.studyadelaide.com/

18. Responsiveness
 Career and technical and
technical curriculum must be
responsive to technological
changes in our society.
 New developments in various
fields should be incorporated
into the curriculum so that
graduates can compete for
jobs and once they have jobs,
achieve their greatest
potential.

19. Expense
 The dollars associated with operating certain career
and technical curricula are sometimes considerably
more than for their academic counterparts.
 Equipment must be updated periodically if the
instructor expects to provide students with realistic
instruction, and this updating process can be very
expensive.
 The purchase of consumable materials requires a
sustained budgetary commitment to the
curriculum. Funds are need to buy consumables used
by students throughout the school year.

20. Why work on curriculum?
 Career and technical curriculum
soon becomes outdated when steps
are not taken to keep it from
remaining static.
 A static curriculum is a dying
curriculum.
 The responsiveness of a curriculum
to changes in the work world has
much bearing on the ultimate
quality of that curriculum and its
contribution to student growth.

21. Explicit Outcomes
Not only must the contemporary
career and technical and
technical curriculum be
responsive to the world of
work, it must also be able to
communicate this
responsiveness to
administrators, teachers,
students, parents, and
employers.
Image from
http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/issues/79/story04.html

22. Fully Articulated
 Curriculum articulation may involve the resolution of
content conflicts across different areas or
development of a logical instructional flow from one
year to the next.
 Curriculum articulation also takes place throughout
levels of schooling. (Career pathways and 2+2
agreements)

23. Realistic
Hands-on experiences in
laboratory and work-based
educational settings provide
the student with a relevant
means of transferring
knowledge, skills, and
attitudes to the world of
work.

24. Evaluation-Conscious
 As a curriculum is being implemented , plans must be
made to assess its effects on students (formative
assessments)
 After the curriculum has been implemented and data
have been gathered, school personnel may actually see
what strengths and weaknesses exist (summative
assessments)

25. Future-Oriented
All CTE educators need to focus on
the future
 What technological changes might
affect the need for graduates?
 What types of school laboratories
win be needed twenty years from
now?
 What sorts of continuing
education will be needed by
students who are in school right
now?

26. Summary
 Curriculum includes the wide range of experiences
that contributes to the growth of an individual
 Curriculum design for school systems focus on the
needs of the individual
 CTE programs are designed to integrate academic and
careers skills.
 For these programs to be effective, the methods and
materials must be kept current and this requires
funding.

27. Resources
Finch, C.R. and Crunkilton, J. R. (1999). Curriculum
Development in career and technical and technical
Education Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Chapter 1.