High school counselor & administration perceptions toward CTE's role in STEM education

Abstract

In response to a changing economic and technological landscape, there has been a recent call for action for secondary schools to place a greater focus on STEM education. In addition to science and mathematics courses, career and technical education (CTE) has shown to be a promising vehicle for teaching STEM concepts. Despite its benefits, it is common for CTE to be omitted in the STEM education discussion. To better understand why CTE is overlooked, this study sought to gain insight into the perceptions held by high school counselor and administrator as to the role that CTE has within STEM education. Results from a survey showed that administrators and counselors generally hold positive perceptions of CTE and its ability to prepare students for STEM-related postsecondary educational programs and careers. Results also showed administrators reporting a negative association between the overlap between CTE and STEM education at their schools. However, statistical comparisons using chi-square tests showed no meaningful variation between participate perceptions of CTE compared to other mathematics and science courses. Considering this, further research of factors that can impede CTE being used to teach STEM education is recommended.