Teaching at the Intersection of CTE, STEM, and Career Readiness

Have you ever scrolled through LinkedIn, seeing the collection of connection suggestions from former high school classmates? If you’re like many people, you may have been struck by the oddity of seeing these people as branded career professionals. It’s entirely pragmatic; that’s what school is for, after all.

But in that moment, we are also reminded that the experiences that shaped us also shaped them—the same classes, teachers, extra-curriculars, blackboards filled with semi-legible writing, tattered notebooks, and obligatory inspirational posters.

Now working across a wide spectrum of careers, it’s reasonable to wonder, how did we all end up where we are? What in those formative years made us ready?

A Career Readiness Lens in Education

This question leads us to John Patrick Shell, an engineering teacher in CE Williams Middle School’s career readiness program. In this role, he endeavors to immerse students in real-world learning experiences, impart essential career-ready skills, and “inspire all students entering [his] classroom to become 21st-century ready and aware of all opportunities within STEM.”

Shell is a veteran educator, having spent over 20 years in the classroom. He started as a science teacher for both middle school and high school, specializing in marine science. But through training, Shell became an engineer and teaches Gateway to Technology (pre-engineering).

Under this content area, Shell has taught courses in automation and robotics, design and modeling, green architecture, and aeronautics. He explains that while “these courses are all very different content wise; they have a consistent theme in developing STEM skills.”

His work is a part of a larger movement amongst educators to reshape education, so learning is highly relevant and ripe with equitable opportunities for students to gain the skills needed for an informed and successful future after graduation.

A career readiness focus expands learning beyond the memorization of chemical compounds or the drilling of complex mathematical formulas and instead empowers students to apply these concepts in the context of real-life scenarios.

Added into the curriculum is also the consideration of “soft skills”—the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills that support entrepreneurship, critical thinking, creativity, and communication as well as new approaches to thought like computational thinking and design thinking.

While there is so much unknown about the future of work, these higher order thinking skills will be critical to the nature of jobs and workplaces students will face after graduation.

CTE Gets a Rebrand

First, let’s quickly start with a definition of CTE. According to Advance CTE, “Career Technical Education (CTE) provides students of all ages with the academic and technical skills, knowledge, and training necessary to succeed in future careers and to become lifelong learners…CTE prepares these learners for the world of work by introducing them to workplace competencies and makes academic content accessible to students by providing it in a hands-on context.”

Moreover, CTE engages students in class content through hands-on and real-world projects and enables students to be agents of their learning. This version of CTE differs from its predecessor with elements like “career pathways, industry standards, professional advisory groups, internships, and other work-based learning.”

Today’s CTE seeks to propel students into well-paying, stable jobs while also equipping students with skills to evolve with shifts in the economy; to embrace learning opportunities; and to be problem solvers, creators, and critical thinkers.

Some studied benefits find that when compared to peers not enrolled in CTE courses, students enrolled have:

• Higher high school graduation rates.
• Higher enrollment rates in two-year college.
• Higher wages.

Average national graduation rate in 2008 for students concentrating in CTE was 90 percent compared to 75 percent for non-CTE students. In addition, the studies found 80 percent of students taking a college prep academic curriculum with rigorous CTE met college and career readiness goals, compared to 63 percent of students who did not take CTE.

Career Readiness Meets STEM

Career readiness is vast, but what we can derive is the need for students equipped with technology savviness, critical thinking and analysis skills, adaptability and persistence, and a growth mindset and creativity. There is also a profound need to educate students on topics like STEM and computer science.

Answering this call, much of Shell’s work centers on the convergence of CTE and STEM under the umbrella of career readiness.

When it comes to the evolving job opportunities available to students, STEM careers are by far the most prominent. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of STEM jobs is growing twice as fast as non-STEM careers with a projected 11,278,700 positions available in 2030.

With the acceleration of STEM careers, it’s natural that career readiness converges with this trend. On this topic, Shell explains: “CTE and STEM go hand in hand…If you look at any CTE job or related skill, STEM concepts and skills are deeply embedded…When students become engaged with CTE, they really see the connection with STEM.”

A District-Wide CTE Program

At Charleston County School District, where Shell works, there is a district-wide career readiness program that shares the vision of “changing the way students learn and choose careers.” This work extends from the district’s recognition of “high-wage, high-skill, and high-demand jobs in [the] region” and “the need to make students fully aware of the opportunities available to them,” adds Shell.

To promote this effort CCSD offers “a wide variety of courses, opportunities, and clubs that motivate, engage and inspire learners to challenge themselves.” In his work building the program, Shell has focused on developing career awareness with students, helping them to understand the opportunities available to them.

Shell aids students in “developing a skillset to succeed in any type of career they choose for themselves.” He often expresses to parents that “the types of jobs their children will do have not been created yet.” Adding, “students will need a variety of combined skills to make them attractive to potential 21st-century employers.”

While many career programs begin in high school or middle school, career readiness at CCSD starts as early as elementary school. Shell describes:

“It is never too early for career exploration. In so many classrooms, the focus is with standardized tests, data, and instruction. Career and Technical Education (CTE) allows elementary learners a way to investigate a variety of careers, understand what types of skills are needed to attain those careers, and gain experience with those careers.”

This integration of career exploration in elementary school allows students to get at the heart of the burning question: when will I ever use this? It helps students understand the “why.”

Standards of education that are based in CTE and STEM aren’t taught in the isolation of the classroom and are instead rooted in the world outside the classroom, acting as a direct extension to a student’s future persisting from grade to grade and school to school, growing with students.

The opportunities to address career readiness and exploration with younger grades abound. A few examples Shell offers include: “creating and attending career fairs at their schools, having older students who mentor elementary students about CTE careers, and hosting CTE professionals in listening sessions for elementary schools to find out what they want to learn about CTE careers.”

Career Readiness in Education

Matters of career readiness in education are complex. That is why politicians debate it, researchers study it, and people like to talk about it. However, in classrooms, teachers are bringing it to fruition. They are rewriting the learning experience to ensure it serves students.

Shell believes that education is evolving to empower students with “the skillset to adapt to any situation and solve any problem.” Career-readiness is critical thinking. It’s creativity. It’s grit. It’s entrepreneurship. It’s a love of learning. A shift toward career readiness means imparting knowledge and skills reflective of the world outside the classroom.

Learn more about career readiness in education and why it matters here:

This article was originally published in 2020, and has been reviewed and updated.

Further Reading