Posts Tagged ‘training’

Friends of CTE Guest Blog Series: Toyota President, CEO Supports CTE as Resource for Employment Opportunities

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Jim Lentz is  President & CEO of Toyota Motor Sales USA.

What’s your edge?  What’s going to separate you from others?  Plain and simple, one of the best ways to stand out is to get great hands-on training and education — everything that Career Technical Education provides.

In this fast-paced world where immediate results are demanded, Toyota needs team members who know their stuff.   Today’s cars contain more than 3,000 parts and are basically computers on wheels.  In fact, some cars have as many as 100 million lines of software code.  You can fill a stack of letter-sized pages the height of a 50-story building with that many codes.

In addition, automobiles have nearly 1,000 times more computing power than the system that guided Apollo astronauts to the moon.  It’s true. Further, even more advanced technologies and electronics are being added to vehicles.  And, since cars are becoming more complex, we’re going to need good people that have the knowledge and the know-how to keep things in tip-top condition.

This is all great news because as the auto industry continues to grow, more and more jobs will be available.  In fact, over the next four years, the industry plans to add 150,000 new jobs.  That’s on top of the 8 million Americans who depend on the auto industry for their livelihoods.

So, having the education and technical experience is critical in the auto business, or almost any field you choose.  At Toyota, we feel so strongly about this that we’ve directly supported college automotive programs through our Technician Training and Education Network (T-TEN) for a quarter century.  We’ve also joined with other automakers to support high school-level programs for more than a decade through Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES).

CTE programs also offer another important opportunity for you to fulfill your dreams. They help you determine how strong your passion is for a given subject. Yes, it’s important to have knowledge and training, but it’s equally important to love what you do.  It makes a difference in your outlook, your attitude and your results.  Generally, passionate, enthusiastic people are more successful in work and life.

That’s why companies today are seeking associates who have three key ingredients:  Knowledge, training and passion.  You’ll find individuals who posses these traits at CTE.  So, if you’re not involved in a CTE program–get involved and do it now!  Good luck and all the best in the future!

How Can You Get Involved?

The Friends of CTE Guest Blog Series provides advocates – from business and industry, to researchers and organizations – an opportunity to articulate their support for Career Technical Education. The monthly series features a guest blogger who provides their perspective on and experience with CTE as it relates to policy, the economy and education.

Are you interested in being a guest blogger and expressing your support for CTE? Contact Erin Uy, Communications and Marketing Manager, at [email protected].

By admin in News
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New Paper Cites Strong Return on Investment for Adult Ed and Training

Monday, June 27th, 2011

In these tough economic times, how can the Career Technical Education (CTE) community band together to show the value of CTE to individuals and society? Stakeholders in education and many other fields struggle to receive support through dwindling federal or state funds because they often lack the resources or sufficient data to provide strong evidence of program efficacy.

Widely used to evaluate cost-effectiveness, return on investment (ROI) studies in education specifically aim to evaluate the connection between spending and educational outcomes. Strategies that show more efficient overall use of funds demonstrate a higher rate of return on investment.

A new policy paper from the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation, an organization that advances 21st Century global education and knowledge, provides several examples of ROI studies that show a positive economic impact for adult education and training. The authors describe how increasing investments in adult education would actually save the government money by reducing societal healthcare, public assistance and incarceration costs in addition to providing direct economic benefits for individuals and society.

Read more about states and organizations that have made efforts to quantify the ROI of adult education in the full report.

By admin in Research, Resources
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‘Education versus Training’ or ‘Education and Training’?

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Last month, NASDCTEc met with the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. As we prepared for this meeting, a question lingered in my mind that we have all heard posed many times – is CTE education or training?

At the heart of this question is an assumption that education and training are fundamentally different. But are they?

One answer that I have heard quite often is that the difference between education and training is that education is a first chance system and the workforce/training is a second chance system. Is this still true today? Recent economic challenges facing our nation and the demands of the modern workplace have made it clear that all workers must be learners throughout their entire working career.  Also, consider the volatility of the workforce even absent the current economic crisis. Researchers note that individuals are voluntarily changing careers between 7 – 15 times throughout their working life.  Is a workforce system that is considered “second chance” sufficient to meet the needs of this economy? Does education just stop once you get your first round of postsecondary degrees?

Is the mission of education versus training different? Aren’t both education and training about providing customers (students of any age) with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful citizens who can contribute positively their communities through their work or volunteer efforts?

Are the differences that have defined education and training steeped in concerns of competitiveness among programs rather than having truly divergent and separate missions and purposes?

CTE has often stood in the middle of the debate of education versus training – one foot firmly in each camp. As our organization moves forward with thinking about the next steps for CTE, this question of ‘education versus training’ or ‘education and training’ will surely be central to our discussion. What do you think?

By admin in Public Policy
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