The four-year college education is out, and educational expectations are changing in Massachusetts. According to a new study released by the state treasurer’s office, most expected job openings will require no more than a vocational education or a degree from a community college.
The study, "Meeting the Commonwealth's Workforce Needs" suggests a “huge training effort” to fill jobs in Massachusetts by utilizing vocational schools. “In recent years, we’ve become increasingly aware of the strength of our vocational programs,” Former Secretary of Education Paul Reville said on Boston Public Radio. “Vocational schools were among the most resistant to the idea of high standards and holding people accountable, and in the long run, after two decades of educational reform, their students actually surpass students in comprehensive high schools on test scores and graduation rates.”
The difference, according to Reville, is not the “vocational” status of the schools, but the educational programs themselves. “Vocational education is an applied education,” Reville said. “Students are learning, but they’re learning about things that connect to practical things that they can accomplish in the real world, and that turns out to be an enormous motivating factor for students. We do have a lot of jobs that require jobs that require skills at a level less than a four year college degree in Massachusetts… I think what we’re seeing is not so much the need for more vocational schools, but the need for a more applied education. In other words, there’s no reason why some of our comprehensive high schools can’t use some of the kinds of programs that have flourished in vocational schools.”
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Paul Reville is the Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also runs the Education Redesign lab. To hear more from his interview, click on the audio link above.
