How Are We Preparing Our Students for their Future?

This morning I had the opportunity to attend the State of the St. Louis Workforce meeting at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  As I listened intently to the results of a regional employer survey, I could not help but think about connections to our work as secondary CTE educators.

One theme was clear - experience is preferred over education.  With that being said, how can we provide our students with experiences that will give them an advantage over their peers?  Profession-based learning, real-world, authentic experiences are all great ways to engage students, provide relevance for their learning and provide them with a value above and beyond solely delivering CTE curriculum.  How can we develop and design these learning experiences for our students so they are a guarantee for all of our students in all of our programs?

Another finding from the study dealt with the lack of applicant communication skills, work ethic and writing skills.  Are we creating opportunities for students to communicate their understanding verbally and through writing?  Should we be assessing both "soft skills" and technical skills in our programs?  Have we done enough to develop these skills in our students?

As you can see, I left this session with more questions than answers.  It seems that, if designed effectively, we could work at the secondary level to provide quality instruction and feedback to our students that would help them as they transition into their next educational or employment endeavors.