Indicates that the basics responsible for successful vocational agricultural programs are (1) supervised occupational experience programs, (2) curriculum design emphasizing problem solving and rational thinking, (3) involvement in Future Farmers of America, and (4) qualified teachers. (JOW)

Traces the history and philosophy of core skills. Suggests that, although the way they are used in training and vocational education has positively changed the way skills are viewed, the approach is narrow in outlook, especially the General National Vocational Qualifications, and may not serve the best interests of industry or society. (Author/JOW)

The United States needs a vocational educational system that delivers, in an applied technological setting, the new basic skills that industry needs, as well as a general education system that provides creative instruction in applied math, physics, and science. To be effective, technological training should encompass, along with machine-specific…

Although vocational education students can handle technical tasks, they often lack employability skills. The author identifies employability skills, addresses important questions about them, and recommends action for vocational educators to take in teaching employability skills. (JOW)

A student who plans to enter the field of technology education must be especially motivated to incorporate computer technology into the theories of learning. Evaluation prior to the learning process establishes a frame of reference for students. After preparing students with the basic concepts of resistors and the mental tools, the expert system…

Following some years of eclipse by the basics, imparting thinking ability to students is once again emerging as the primary goal of public education. How to teach thinking skills, is, however, subject to question. For example, not only is the domain of the higher order skills broad and imprecisely specified, there is also considerable naivete in…

This basic skills resource tool for the teacher illustrates, through models and practices that are proven successful at state and local levels, how to implement the processes and techniques presented in BASICS. BASICS is a package of integrated materials developed to assist teachers, administrators, and counselors in bridging vocational and…

The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report lists competencies generic for all students. They include using resources, using information, interpersonal abilities, using systems, and technology. A final report is being prepared pointing out the conflicting messages in the America 2000 plan (stressing academics) and the…

The educational excellence movement has made an academic curriculum a high priority for all high school students, including the 40 percent who do not go on to college. The joint efforts approach to incorporating basic skills into the vocational curriculum is based on the following assumptions: (1) academic skills are embedded in vocational…

This document suggests a systematic approach to the development of appropriate applied basic skills instructional materials. It is part of BASICS, a set of integrated materials developed to assist teachers, counselors, and administrators in bridging vocational and academic skills. Section 1 discusses the prerequisites to development of materials.…

Secondary vocational education may often fail to develop students' thinking skills, because of teacher-student "negotiation" on academic standards and class content. Proposes engaging a diverse group of students in academically integrated coursework emphasizing experiential learning, basic skill training, entrepreneurial activity, decision making,…

A 3-year project in the University of Arkansas' vocational teacher education program used a problem-solving approach to help vocational teachers develop innovative methods to teach vocational content. The project had four goals: (1) to design inservice teacher workshops for high technology internship programs; (2) to identify and select…

The project described in this paper attempted to provide vocationally tracked high school students with the literacy skills needed to compete successfully in today's high-technology work force. This attempt was carried out by: (1) assisting students in establishing their vocational objectives in order to focus on specific literacy requirements;…

The career preparedness component of British Columbia's Career and Personal Planning (CAPP) curriculum commits two fundamental category mistakes in its classification of employability skills, both with potentially serious consequences for education. The first type of category mistake is incorrectly conflating distinct categories of concepts under…

This paper focuses on mathematics education in Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) in West Germany. The "dual system" of TVE, a part-time college/part-time on-the-job training scheme that normally leads to a certificate of a qualified worker after three years, is reviewed. Entrance tests for the trainee posts focus heavily on aspects of…