The Demise of Traditional Technology and Engineering Education Teacher Preparation Programs and a New Direction for the Profession

Abstract

For nearly 40 years, there has been a serious decline in the number of new technology and engineering education teachers and teacher preparation programs in the United States (Akmal, Oaks,

Are Technology and Engineering Educator Programs Really Declining? Reexamining the Status and Characteristics of Programs in the United States

“…He asserted that short, oneweek, or multi-week summer training institute models being implemented to teach out-of-content area educators how to deliver T&E curricula from organizations like Project Lead the Way (PLTW) were undermining the basis for high-quality and specialized preparation experiences traditionally offered by four-year undergraduate T&E TPPs. In support of these claims, Volk (2019) presented research demonstrating that alternatively certified teachers leave the profession at higher rates, and principals perceive these teachers to be underprepared and less effective compared to teachers who graduated from traditional T&E TPPs. He concluded that while programs like PLTW were often well supported by Perkins funding and helped prevent the closure of T&E programs in P-12 schools due to the shortage of T&E educators, it undermined the basis for TPPs and highly-qualified educators.…”

“…Scott and Buffer (1995) predicted political and economic demands would threaten the survival of technology education as a profession. Similar concerns were reiterated more than 20 years later as T&E TPPs continued to face drastically declining program and enrollment trends (Love et al, 2016;Moye, 2017;Volk, 2019). As highlighted by Volk (2019), there are several certification, degree, and coursework pathways beyond traditional undergraduate TPPs that are becoming increasingly popular in attempts to address the critical shortage of T&E educators.…”

“…Similar concerns were reiterated more than 20 years later as T&E TPPs continued to face drastically declining program and enrollment trends (Love et al, 2016;Moye, 2017;Volk, 2019). As highlighted by Volk (2019), there are several certification, degree, and coursework pathways beyond traditional undergraduate TPPs that are becoming increasingly popular in attempts to address the critical shortage of T&E educators. However, there is a lack of data representing the full breadth of T&E educator-related programs (TEEPs) that offer these various pathways and have program completers entering the profession.…”

“…To establish a baseline of potential programs, the 2018 CTETE teacher education programs webpage, the two most recent CTETE directories (Rogers, 2018(Rogers, , 2019, and the "Organizations Directory" webpage of the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA, 2021) were analyzed. Volk (1993Volk ( , 2019 employed similar methods in previous studies. It is important to note that while the CTETE directories provide a reasonable estimate of program information, they rely on self-reported data from contacted programs (Volk, 1993(Volk, , 2000(Volk, , 2019.…”

“…Volk (1993Volk ( , 2019 employed similar methods in previous studies. It is important to note that while the CTETE directories provide a reasonable estimate of program information, they rely on self-reported data from contacted programs (Volk, 1993(Volk, , 2000(Volk, , 2019. To ensure the accuracy of the data collected, the researchers performed a content analysis of each state department of education's webpage to identify all programs offering T&E education-related courses and degrees.…”