An Assessment of the Vocational Technical Education Needs of the Lake Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Purpose. In response to pressure from their constituents for more vocational education in their schools, the educational leaders of the Lake Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists comprising the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, requested a survey be conducted to assess the extent of this need. The purpose of this study was to answer as objectively as possible the following questions: Is there a need for more vocational-technical education courses in the secondary schools of the Lake Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists? If there is a need, what type of courses are desired? Procedure. The curriculum desires of the students, staff, and constituents of the Lake Union Conference were compared with the 1976-77 course offerings in the secondary schools of the Lake Union in order to yield the discrepancies or "needs" in their programs. The Bonanza Game, an instrument which forces participants into a determination of their priorities, was administered to students, staff, and constituents to reveal their curriculum preferences. An occupational label sort, consisting of twenty-five occupational categories from which participants were to choose the most important occupations, was administered to the participants to discern the job categories they preferred. All the seniors, and the staff members from the ten secondary schools of the Lake Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists were included in this study as well as 380 randomly selected constituents from the four-state area. Findings. Definite gaps or "needs" were discerned in the course offerings in all but one of the secondary schools in the Lake Union Conference. As a result of the Occupational Label Sort, it was found that the participants in the survey preferred business management, medical technology/nursing, communications, medical technology/laboratory, and food service as the most important occupational categories. They felt that plumbing and pipefitting, transportation services, sheetmetal and welding, and tool and die making were the least important occupations. The students, staff, and constituents of the Lake Union Conference agreed in the most part with the job outlook of the U.S. Department of Labor. On all the instruments utilized in this study the students, staff, and constituents exhibited a significant level of consensus. Conclusions. It was concluded that: 1. The vocational education needs of the secondary schools of the Lake Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists as perceived by their students, staff, and constituents are not being totally met 2. White-collar professional occupations are among the most desired by the participants, while blue-collar manual occupations tend to be the least desired 3. There is a significant degree of consensus among the three participating groups regarding the need for vocational education in the general secondary curriculum and also their desires for specific occupational categories.
Christian Denominations and Sects, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
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