New Pathways to NDT: 21st Century Technical Education Connects High School Students to Real-World Careers

High schools in the United States are taking a fresh look at the future of career and technical education with the implementation of new learning pathways that lead directly to the workforce, including the nondestructive testing (NDT) industry. These programs directly connect high school curriculums with post-secondary education and employment, reaching kids as young as junior high. This resurgence in technical education can be traced to the current demand for “new collar” jobs—jobs that require a post-secondary degree, although not necessarily a four-year college degree. The demand for new collar jobs continues to increase, as millions of jobs requiring only a high school diploma have disappeared. Harvard’s influential Pathways to Prosperity report, released in 2011, warned that nearly two-thirds of new jobs of the 2010s would require more than a high school education—yet only 40% of Americans had obtained an associate’s or bachelor’s degree by their mid-20s (Harvard 2011). In response, a new vision of 21st century vocational training is emerging across the United States. Vocational education has traditionally taught students how to weld or how to fix a car. Today’s career and technical education encompasses a wide variety of industries and skills. Students are learning to code software, design websites, or operate robots and artificial intelligence systems that have replaced manual labor jobs across much of the economy. Through new technical and career programs, high school students have the opportunity to learn valuable skills, gain job experience and support from participating sponsor companies and mentors, and complete coursework to graduate with a high school diploma and, often, an associate’s degree as well. This article explores new high school technical and career programs in Texas, Minnesota, and North Carolina that specifically provide a pathway to careers in NDT. These new initiatives are fueled by the desires of students, parents, and educators for options outside of the traditional four-year college path, as well as urgent workforce needs within industry. Support from local industry and academia (such as community colleges) are essential to the success of the programs.

Effect of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on Elite Spanish Student-Athletes’ Perception of the Dual Career

The aim of the present research was to assess elite student-athletes’ perception of the dual career during the lockdown caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, compared with a group of elite student-athletes who could develop their dual career under normal conditions. A total of 150 elite athletes who were also undergraduate or postgraduate students self-completed the “Perceptions of dual career student-athletes (ESTPORT)” questionnaire. From them, 78 did it during the mandatory lockdown period due to the state of emergency caused by COVID-19 (COVID-19 group) and 72 completed it in the previous year to Rio 2016 Olympic Games (control group). The COVID-19 group was found to spend a significantly higher number of hours per week studying, while no significant differences were observed between groups in any training time variable. Student-athletes of the COVID-19 group showed better perception of whether their sport career could help them cope with their academic career and better general perception of remote learning and the use of tasks and videoconferencing as learning support tools. A lower percentage of athletes of the COVID-19 group than of the control group wished to continue with their sport career once they finished their studies. To conclude, student-athletes of the COVID-19 group show adaptations with regard to the organization of their studies and the importance they give to them and to the services provided by dual-career programs, compared with student-athletes from an ordinary pre-Olympic year. In general, student-athletes’ perception of the dual career is very positive.

PROMOTING EFFECTIVE CAREER DEVELOPMENT IN GERONTOLOGY THROUGH APPLIED INTERGENERATIONAL PROGRAMS

With the rise in global older adult populations, university programs need to produce an effective, gerontology-trained workforce (Silverstein & Fitzgerald, 2017). Career decision-making involves interactive learning (Super, 1990), as adults explore career options, engage in career learning, and understand curriculum integration within professional settings (Savickas, 2013). Gerontology faculty can utilize career planning models that integrate intergenerational engagement within the curriculum to aid student career decisions (Reardon, Lenz, Peterson, & Sampson, 2012). This paper provides an overview of a career planning model and highlights the ways intergenerational programs can be intentionally staged in research, service, and extracurricular domains to promote career planning and success in post-graduate employment. Data from our recent gerontology alumni survey including graduates since the program inception will be outlined to support the importance and success of developing strong applied intergenerational career programs in gerontology.

An agenda for rethinking mid-career master programs in public administration

The pace of societal change and the development of societal challenges have speeded up considerably during the last couple of decades, with substantial impact on different levels, i.e. ranging from global to local, or from business to government. When focusing on the public domain, these changes and challenges have had a major impact on public professionals, who face different and frequently changing questions. Mid-career programs in Public Administration (MPA) have the mission to support enrolled professionals in dealing with these changes and challenges. This article is about the development of such MPAs. Both substantive and didactic development is needed. To counter institutional inertia it seems vital to institutionalize a regular rethinking and adaptation of curricula and didactic strategies. This article identified some important points of attention and some options to deal with these in order to continuously improve the contribution of MPA programs to relevant and effective professional development and ongoing professional learning.