Integrating Academic and Vocational Education: A Model for Secondary Schools

How can educators make schoolwork relevant to students' lives, integrate new technologies into the classroom and teach students problem solving and other lifelong learning skills? Many people believe that integrating academic and vocational learning is the most promising approach. This book, based on the experiences of a successful school, discusses the potential barriers to an integrated program and explains how specific practices can help teachers, business advisors, parents, and students work together to break down those barriers and build an effective program. To clarify their idea of a "seamlessly integrated" curriculum, the authors include examples of learning activities actually used in a school. These activities challenge students to apply academic concepts to real-world situations, and they demonstrate how new technologies can help students learn to research, analyze, make choices, and plan. Integrating Academic and Vocational Education presents a useful model for redesigning the curriculum to both ignite students’ interest and prepare graduates for a rewarding life after high school.