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WED 466-3 Foundations of Workforce Education
Plan of Instruction: 2-1-1-2 Format
SATURDAY 1ST WEEKEND8:00 / Getting Started
- Cover Roll
- Orientation to SIU Online . . . navigating . . . orientation pre-req. each class . . . “Electives” 258/259 & 358/359
- General Program Questions
- WED Syllabus
9:00 / Lesson 1 Historical, Philosophical, and Ethical Foundations (PPT, Ch. 1)
Learning Objectives
- Historical Development of Public Sector Workforce Education
- . . . of Private Sector Workforce Education
- Role and Contributions of the GI Bill
- Philosophical Issues
Guided Discussion
Overview . . . a time period of approximately 400 years
Tensions . . . from the beginning to present day . . . use rubber band to demonstrate the tensions (listed on White Board)
- Intelligence vs. Skills;
- Elitism vs. Opportunity;
- Democratic Citizenship vs. Moral Character;
- Church vs. State;
- State vs. Church
- Education vs. Business & Industry
Early Career & Technical Education in America – with a healthy dose of Great Britain and Western Europe
- The Family
- Churches
- Apprenticeships
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- Beginnings of Universal Education
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- Post-Revolutionary War
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- Church Schools
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- Private Academies
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- Felt Need in a Democracy?
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- What did the U.S. Constitution have to say about universal education?
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10:00 / Early Educational Efforts for Adults
Question: At what age do you think that a person was considered an adult?
- Mechanics Institute Movement (large cities/towns) and the American Lyceum Movement (small towns and rural communities)
- Manual Labor Movement – integrated school subjects with agriculture
- Early American Technical Schools
- Trade School Movement
- Corporate Schools
- Normal Schools to educate teachers, see p. 13 Oswego State Normal School (NY 1861) . . . SIU’s roots a church-sponsored Normal School
- Child-centered curriculum, 1875 Quincy Plan (Massachusetts)
- Kindergarten (1873 St. Louis . . . linked to the poor)
11:00 / Educational Reforms in the Common School – The Comprehensive HS
*ACTIVITY:
1. Ask each student to list their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents
2. Have students briefly describe the educational experiences of these people
3. Debrief the commonalities of time and place and opportunity
- Compulsory School Laws – over half students left school by the 8th grade
. . . Role of the HS? Controversy over two tracts: Classical for college bound and practical for “terminal” students
- Ask students to describe the controversy/debate that ensued. Ask, Who took sides?
- What positions did they take? (Educators . . . business and industry?)
*ACTIVITY: have students break into groups corresponding to the positions they have just identified. Ask each group to present their position to students “who have been elected to the local school board.” Each group presents its “good reasons” to the School Board; members of the Board may ask questions.
12:00 / Lunch
1:00 / A “Get Acquainted Energizer Activity (assume students in the class who have just entered the program along with 2nd and 3rd term students)
Back to Guided Discussion
- Manual Training Movement
- Special Manual Training Schools Become Technical Schools
- Beginnings of JHS & HS
- Movements to include Practical Training in Schools, pp. 21 to 38
. . . American Sloyd . . . Arts and Crafts . . . Correspondence Schools . . . Manual Arts . . . Industrial Arts . . . Agricultural Educ. Pre 1917 - Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 and after 1917. . . Home Economics . . . Business Education
- Report of the Douglas Commission of Mass ((1906), formation of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education ((1906), report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education (1914), passage of the Smith -Hughes Act (1917) –
- Local . . . state . . . federal? Anyone support George Washington’s last wish (see article in Lesson 1) for a national university?
2:00 / Transition to Educational Philosophies of John Dewey and Charles Prosser
Question: What were the economic, social, and philosophical factors that were driving the wealth of the nation at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 21st centuries?
- Show Dewey/Prosser PPT. and then ask students to briefly read pp. 42-43
- Encourage students to express in their own words what they see as the fundamental differences between the two philosophies.
Transition to Schools of Philosophy and Their Influence on Education and Training
Q: Ask for someone to define the word “philosophy.”
(a way of looking at the world)
Facilitate Discussion of:
- Idealism (search for universal truth)
- Realism (based on the laws of science)
- Pragmatism (assumes a constantly changing world ; requires the ability to adapt and grow)
- Existentialism (existence is reality; there is no ultimate meaning)
Guide discussion of each philosophy via two questions for the educator/trainer:
- What should we teach?
- How should we teach
Examples;
- Trainer, Nuclear Power Generation
- Medical Doctor
- Welding Instructor
3:00 / Transition to Professionalism and Ethics
- Workforce Education is a Profession
- Four Ethical Obligations
- Professional Codes of Ethics
T or F Question: “Invariably, workforce education professionals will encounter ethical conflicts in their careers?”
Probe for examples
Preview Sunday
- G.I. Bill
- Lesson Two: Economic/Labor Market Foundations of Workforce Ed.
4:00 / Adjourn
SUNDAY 1ST WEEKEND
8:00 / Welcome back/take roll
Debrief 1st Day:
- What did we discuss yesterday that was an “aha”/a new insight for you?
- Why?
- To what extent are you satisfied with the state of workforce education in our country?
Transition to GI Joe and GI Jane to College
Show Video The Law That Changed America – roughly 60”
9:00 / Debrief Video
Transition to Activity: Form groups. Groups are share stories of how GI Bill has affected them or other members of their families
Debrief Activity – Learned and Gained?
10:00 / Transition to Lesson 2: Economic and Labor Foundations of Workforce Education
Learning Objectives:
1. Economic Analysis
2. Labor Market Analysis
3. Workforce Projections
Workforce Education is a Social Science. Candidates for Master’s and doctoral degrees, university faculty, and other professional researchers apply different social science methodologies to study work such as:
Q: Validity and Reliability with respect to social science investigation?
Techniques for Studying Work
- Historical Data
- Ethnographies
§ Participant Observations
§ Non-Participant Observations
§ Experimenter Bias
§ Hawthorne Effect
- Case Studies
§ Comparative
§ Action Research
- Sample Surveys
§ All Members
§ Cross-Section of members
§ Selection Bias
§ Response Error
11:00 / Units of Analysis: the Worker and the Labor Force
- Ascribed Characteristics: Gender, Race, Age, etc.
- Achieved Characteristics: Education, Work Experience, Skills
- Government Definition of Employment: person has worked at 1 hour for pay or profit or at least 15 hours in a family business without pay or is temporarily not employed due to illness, vacation/similar reason
- Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR): the labor force divided by all non-institutionalized persons age 16+ x 100 = %
- Unemployment Rate: number of unemployed divided by the labor force X 100 = %
- What is the significance of the number of those who fall into the categories of “Not in the Labor Force” (NILF) and Discouraged Workers?
Units of Analysis: Industry, Occupation, and Workplaces
- Industry (NAICS) North American Industry Classification System – link to WED 460 . . . why important?
- Occupation: White Collar/Blue Collar? Standard Occupation Classification System (SOCS) . . . link to WED 460 . . . why important?
Problems Studying Work: Lack of Information . . . characteristics that are hard to measure
Noon / Lunch
1:00 / Energizer Activity – Shift focus to a Group Activity; e.g., “Good/Bad Supervisor” (1st goal is to help people who began program in different semesters get to know each other a little better; 2nd goal is to reaffirm or introduce students to KSA Learning Objectives –WED 460)
- Move students into groups. Ask one or more groups to talk about the best and/or worst supervisors for whom they have worked. Focus on what these supervisors said or did. Ask groups to make a list or lists of these behaviors.
- Groups report out
Debrief Activity:
- Reactions to the Activity – How are you feeling after this activity? Pleasant or unpleasant feelings? Why?
- (Supervisory Training falls under the category of “soft skills” training.) To what extent might supervisory training help individuals learn to become more effective supervisors with respect to the KSAs?
Transition to
Economic Foundations
Economists Study
- Scarcity of resources, capital, etc. required to produce a product or to provide a service
- Opportunity Cost to produce one more product or provide one more service
- Utility or value to the company of producing one more product to service
- Rationality of the decision to purchase the resources to produce the product or service
In order to Build Decision-Models/Econometric Models
- Supply and Demand for Goods and Services by Households and other Consumers
- Impact on Supply and Demand for labor
Question: What’s this got to do with Workforce Education professionals?
Trends and Factors Shaping the Labor Market
- Probe students’ awareness of /experience with both
§ Long-Term Trends
§ Short-Term Trends
Note Occupational Projections thru 2018
· Table 2.2, p. 116
· Table 2.3, p. 123
Question: What are the practical implications of these trends for you, your career, and your children
Question: To what extent do “Job Training Funds go to the Workers Who Need it Least”?
Schedule half of the groups to present their Lincoln-Douglas debates on the next Saturday of class (and schedule the remaining groups to be presented on the third Saturday). Preview the debate assignment with class.
Determine and share the date in which you would like students to submit their debate plans into the drop box so that you can access and review them prior to class.
Preview Second Saturday, Lesson 3, Sociological Foundations.
Remind students of due date for Exam 1.
4:00 / Adjourn
SATURDAY 2ND WEEKEND
*Schedule your time as appropriate to allow for some Lincoln-Douglas debate presentations, with the rest to be presented on the 3rd Saturday.
8:00* / Welcome Back/Take Roll
Preview Day (Lesson 3 Sociological Foundations.)
Introduce Lesson 3: Sociological Foundations (PPT available)
What is the difference between the focus of Sociologists and Psychologists?
Learning Objectives:
- Basic Concepts, Vocabulary, and Trends
- Labor Market Analysis
Sociological Perspectives of Work – Guided discussion of key “environmental factors that facilitate or constrain individual action”
- Organizational Structure
- Workplace Roles & the Interaction of Roles
- Power and Authority
- Job Hierarchies
- Organizational Rules and Policies
- Norms of Beliefs and Behavior
- Organizational Culture
All have some effect on the goals/what people want from their work
- Emphasize Landry Conclusion: “Work is something that happens to people.” What’s the significance of that statement?
Move on to Sociological Classification of Labor Markets – Dual Economy Theory . . . better to describe these as the two ends of a long continuum; i.e., huge firms and tiny firms
Primary Labor Market
- Larger Firms
- Better Pay & Benefits
- More Growth Opportunities – vertical and lateral movement
- More likely to have Internal Training & Development Departments
Secondary Labor Market
- Smaller firms
- Lower Pay & Benefits
- Fewer Opportunities for vertical or lateral movement
- More O-J-T
Question: Who – what type of person – is more likely to have access to these firms?
9:00 / Continue Guided Discussion and transition to
Sociological Perspectives of Contemporary Work Trends
- Down-Sizing, Right-Sizing, Reorganizing, and Re-engineering . . . What do these terms infer? What’s so different about Reengineering?
- Just in time (JIT) Procedures
- Technology - what is the impact on the distribution of information? Power? Turnover?
- Global/International Cross-Cultural Workforce . . . link to difference between Developmental (ex. Japan) and Regulatory (U.S.) Models . . . as with primary and secondary labor markets, it is more realistic to look at these as ends on a continuum
Ask for class reactions to their scores on either the Workplace Stress Scale (Martin) or the Workplace Stress Scale (ASI) . . . Probe and transition to their understanding (agreement/disagreement) with the Schulte quote:
Read Quote Brigid Schulte (CNN.com) appeared in The Week, January 23, 2015: “In the U.S., white-collar workers work longer and more extreme hours than their peers in just about any other advanced economy. Economists have found that our workplaces reward employees by how long they sit at their desks in the office, not for what they do. We have a lot of butt-in-chair presenteeism, sick, unhappy, burned out, and disengaged workers. International comparisons of GDP per hours worked have found that workers in Norway, Ireland, Denmark, and even France, with their 30 days of paid vacation every year, their café’ culture, their generous paid family leave policies, and their new directive forbidding some employers from expecting workers to check work-related texts and emails after hours, beat us by a mile.”
10:00 / Introduce Video Series produced in 2001 via “People Like Us: Social Class in America” Intro video poses the primary Question: How do your own class attitudes shape your life?”
Show Intro. (9:30)
Debrief – just ask for reactions and comments
Prior to showing the second video, ask students to take notes on what is important to them
Show Video (23:32) – “Part I: Bud or Bordeaux?”
Debrief:
· What do the “things” with which we surround ourselves say about us?
· What do we fear most? Why?
· What has the greater power: money or class?
· With whom are you most comfortable?
11:00 / Show Video (29:22) – “Part II: High & Low, A Tour through the landscape of Class”
Debrief
· How relevant is the concept of “tribal beliefs” in America?
· Reaction to the comment, “It’s not always about race; sometimes it’s about class”
· To what extent is there class structure in Black America?