Vocational education has been rebranded and retooled as career and technical education. But beneath CTE's 21st century veneer lurks an age-old problem: tailoring students' education too closely to the demands of employers may end up limiting their future options, not expanding them.
Between February and June Velislava collaborated with journalist Jeff Bryant in a study (currently in review) that explored what parents and children thought about career and technical education in the presence of corporate influence and algorithmic data systems.
In this episode of Have you Heard Veli and Jeff, together with some of the parents who took part in their research and other experts in the field of CTE discussed with Jennifer Berkshire some of the concerns arising from algorithmic data systems and corporations coming together in CTE.
While corporate influence in CTE has been an ongoing debate, some of the newer worries parents have relate to the pre-emptive and prescriptive nature of advancing data-driven platforms enveloping public education. These increasingly play a role in student tracking and career pathway development. Together with policy initiatives to align the corporate demands for labour with what education supplies can lead to educating and training children in hype-specialised jobs that neither offer personal choice nor long-term security.
Repost from Have You Heard
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