2.12: Career Technology Education (CTE)

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Page ID: 153393

Susan Rahman, Prateek Sunder, and Dahmitra Jackson
CC ECHO

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Career and Technical Education (CTE) prepares students for career pathways in the global marketplace by offering experiential learning, post-secondary credits and industry certifications.

CTE Students gain technical and high-level academic skills,equipping them to be lifelong learners. CTE provides each student with the opportunity to develop and refine skills and applications necessary to be productive citizens. The mission of CTE is to provide industry linked programs and services that enable all individuals to reach their career goals in order to achieve economic self-sufficiency,compete in the global marketplace, and contribute to a Nation's economic prosperity (WHAT IS CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION?, n.d.).

These certificate based programs are often thought to be equity measures to help students find a path that can provide them with sustainable skills that will garner them steady employment without high cost enrollment fees associated with some for profit CTE programs. Community Colleges nationwide offer a variety of programs to certificate students.

Career Technology Education (CTE) may include a diverse selection of certificate programs that allow the certificated person access to employment opportunities that require specific credentials. Because this field is so large and diverse, it is difficult to describe it as one succinct field. We have chosen to discuss just three specific fields offered at many community college CTE programs: Fire Technology, Graphic Design and Multimedia Studies.