INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Career & Technical Education Leadership Development Program

Competency Guide Sheet

Name: ______Date: ______

Competency Number: 720

Competency Title: Develop Occupational Grids

Level of Development: Independent Application (4)

Criteria Selection: Which criteria on the LPAF for this competency will be checked as "N/A" and which will be checked as "Attained"?

"N/A" Criteria:

"Attained" Criteria:

INTRODUCTION

Having defined the scope of a career and technical program, the various "sub-occupations" have been discussed and approved by the craft committees. Additionally, the many tasks that have been selected and validated by the craft committees must be assigned their place within all of these "sub-occupations."

In itself, the assignment of all these tasks is not difficult. However, if done with little thought, errors can be made and the usefulness of the resulting assignment disturbed. Additionally, if prepared in a practical format, this assignment of tasks can be a tremendous guidance tool used by the classroom/shop instructor, guidance personnel at both career and technical and sending schools, and as promotional tools by the craft committees.

This guide sheet will introduce you to a method of assigning these tasks in a specific format useful to the individuals cited above; namely, an occupational grid.

Background (Theory) Resources: For this competency, you may wish to select an Internet site that addresses one of the following topics. Include the link as the final item on your documentation list. Include a copy of page one of the site with your completed competency.

·  Developing Occupational Grids

·  Using Occupational Grids


List of Key Points or Key Concepts: What in your reading did you find particularly important or valuable?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Implementation Plan: Your implementation plan should reflect your key points and should be approved by your resource person(s) before you take any action.

Documentation: As you develop this competency, document your actions. This documentation could include:

1.  Minutes from meetings with instructors to prepare occupational grids.

2.  Copy of completed occupational grid.

3.  Copy of plan for disposition of occupational grids.


GUIDE STRUCTURE AND USE

This guide sheet contains an introduction and three sequential learning experiences. Overviews, which precede each learning experience, contain the objective for that experience and a brief description of what that learning experience involves.

OBJECTIVES

Terminal Objective: While working in an actual career and technical education leadership situation, assist instructors to develop occupational grids. Your performance will be assessed by your resource persons using the "Leadership Performance Assessment Form (LPAF)", p. 17 (Learning Experience III).

Enabling Objectives:

1. After completing the required reading, demonstrate knowledge of the rationale for and the process of preparing occupational grids (Learning Experience I).

2. After reading a case study of a career and technical education leader assisting an instructor preparing an occupational grid, critique the performance of the leader (Learning Experience II).

PREREQUISITE

None

In order to complete this competency, you will need to have a list of "sub-occupations" in the programs of the instructors you are assisting, as well as a valid list of tasks for those programs.

RESOURCES

A list of the outside resources which supplement those contained within this guide sheet follows. Check with your resource persons (1) to determine the availability and location of these resources, (2) to locate additional references specific to your situation, and (3) to obtain assistance in setting up activities with peers or observations of skilled, experienced career and technical education leaders.

Learning Experience I

Required

None

Optional

None

Learning Experience II

Required

None

Optional

None

Learning Experience III

Required

1. An actual school career and technical education leadership situation in which you can assist instructors to prepare occupational grids for their programs.

2. A School Leadership Resource Person (SLRP) to provide you the opportunity of assisting instructors, to assist you with your competency development plans, and to assess your competency of preparing occupational grids.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE I

OVERVIEW

Enabling Objective

After completing the required reading, demonstrate knowledge of the rationale for and the process of preparing occupational grids.

Activity

You will be reading pp. 5-9 of this guide sheet.

Activity

You will be demonstrating knowledge of the process of preparing occupational grids by completing the Self Check, p. 10 in this guide sheet.

Feedback

You will be evaluating your competency by comparing your completed self-check with the Model Answers, p. 11 in this guide sheet.

Activity

For information concerning the rationale for and how to construct an occupational grid, read the following information sheet.

If you are at the stage in your leadership development dealing with curriculum revision, specifically the preparation of occupational grids, you will have worked with your instructors in (1) determining the scope of an occupational offering; that is what "sub-occupations" will be included within the broad program cluster and which will be omitted. For example, auto service technician includes tune-up specialists, brake specialists, transmission repairmen, etc. (See competency No. 714); and (2) prepared a valid list of tasks for each of these "sub-occupations," (See competency No. 719).

What you now need is a form on which to place or assign each task to its respective occupation. As you may have already guessed, this form is neither new, complicated, nor difficult to prepare. Look ahead to p. 8 and examine the sample occupational grid for the auto service technician program. Undoubtedly, similar forms may already be available at your school and you simply have to write in the data. You will note in this sample that the occupational program, auto service technician, is listed in the upper left-hand corner with each "sub-occupation" listed underneath while the individual tasks are listed across the top. In this format, the grid takes on a horizontal look. Instead, you may prefer to list the "sub-occupations" across the top with the tasks along the side, thus in a vertical format. Mention should be made that the entire sample grid on p. 8 has not been reproduced since size makes it unpractical to include in this guide sheet. These tasks, along with the tasks for each shop in the school may eventually be entered into a computer for records management. For this reason, you may also want to develop a numerical coding system that will facilitate data entry).

Consider for a moment the uses to which this grid can be put. With some modification; namely, in the place of the "sub-occupation," each student's name can be inserted together with the O-NET designation for her/his career declaration. As the student completes a task, the instructor can indicate the completion on the grid. In essence, the grid can serve nicely as a progress record.

Another use to which the grid can be put is in a record called the curriculum framework document, or CFD for short. The CFD is simply another name for the course of study, with the important exception that it is used in competency-based career and technical training (see Leadership Competency No. 723). Along with several other items or records, the grid becomes a part of this CFD. The CFD will serve as a useful if not necessary guide for substitute instructors or newly hired teachers since in essence the grid sets the parameters for the program.

Still another use of the grid is in the area of career guidance in the classroom/shop, the guidance office in the career and technical school, or in the guidance office of the sending schools. Rather than simply telling potential students (say ninth graders in a recruitment effort at the sending schools, for example) that they will study auto mechanics, they can be instead told they can study emission specialists work or transmission specialists work. With the grid in hand, the students can be counseled that by completing five, six, ten, or fifteen "extra" tasks, they can exit with more entry-level skills rather than just the one chosen. A slower, less capable student can be counseled into developing only those tasks for the tune-up specialist, for example, since perhaps in one or two years that is all that individual is capable of developing given their ability. On the other hand, however, the bright students can be counseled into selecting the automotive shop manager career since they could easily develop all competencies or tasks in that career option. As you can see, the grid is a handy tool highlighting the details of each sub-occupation and for offering accurate advice to all students. Suppose, for example, a particularly bright individual decided to elect the auto service technician option and completed his/her program prior to graduation. The grid facilitates nicely the selection of ancillary tasks not found in the auto service technician program. He/she might be able to develop some welding tasks in the welding shop, or air conditioning tasks in the heating and air conditioning shop, electronic tasks in that shop, and so forth--all valuable to a well-rounded auto service technician. This leads to still another use of the grid; namely, articulation.

One facet of any program offering is articulation. The concept of articulation is discussed in another guide sheet (see competency No. 781), but generally it means cooperation with another program with the same school or extending efforts in other schools and institutions. That is, our example of the auto service technician grid does not have to end with the tasks selected and validated for that program. Recall the discussion of scooping the program (see Competency NO. 714), and deciding that some "sub-occupations" will be excluded for a variety of reasons (expensive equipment will be needed, it is too technical, etc.). Perhaps it can be determined that a nearby community college offers additional training in the auto service technician field, and they have the specialized equipment and highly technical training. In a cooperative effort with the community college, the entire list of competencies or tasks can be identified from entry in the secondary program through exit in the college program with perhaps an associate degree. If a student who is gifted can complete all the tasks offered at the secondary school, an arrangement can be made to continue right on with the community college program without "losing a step"! These "extra" tasks may or may not become part of the grid--most probably not since it will be too long and complicated for the students. However, these additional tasks, together with an explanation of their possibilities, will offer a challenge for the bright students to continue with their career and technical training, or into degree work.

A final use of the grid is with the concept of the "shop without walls." Exercising this option, students may graduate from a career and technical school with a certificate of entry-level skills in a program not really found in the school! That is, the tasks were shared among a variety of shops/classrooms. For example, a student may complete the Mobile Home Repair Program and not have a shop called Mobile Home Repair per se. It is a straightforward task of identifying the tasks for mobile home repair. Most, if not all these tasks are taught in other shops. Sheet metal skills are taught in the metal fabrication shop, electrical skills are taught in the electrical repair or industrial maintenance shop, plumbing skills in still another shop, and so forth. The grid could list the skills or tasks in a block facilitating the training in the individual shops and when that "block" is completed, the student proceeds on to another shop. When all tasks have been completed, the student exits with the Mobile Home Repair certificate, with all the individual skills developed listed on the back of the certificate.

Auto Service Technician / Explain functions and operations of all parts of vehicle system / Use correct terminology to describe repairs / Identify personal protective equipment / Discuss environmental safety practices / List hazardous chemicals / Demonstrate safe use of hand and poser tools
Automotive Porter
Automotive Car Washer
Light Repair and Lubrication Mechanic
Automotive Apprentice Technician
Tune-Up Specialist
Automotive Service Dispatcher
Automotive Service Advisor
Brake Specialist
Transmission Repairman
Automotive Shop Manager

- 8 -

CGS-720 Mike Spewock, Ph.D.

Activity

The following items check your comprehension of the material found in the preceding information sheet, pp. 5-9. Each of the items requires a short essay-type response. Please explain fully but briefly, and be sure to respond to all parts of the item.

Self-Check

1. Assume you were approached by an acquaintance on the street that knew very little, if anything, about career and technical education and asked you what an occupational grid was. How would you describe a grid to this individual?

2. Explain how an occupational grid facilitates the concept of a "shop without walls."

3. Why is it necessary to have on hand a valid list of competencies or tasks prior to preparing an occupational grid? A list of sub-occupations?

4. Assume that, in the process of assisting an instructor with his/her curriculum revisions, you heard the comment, "ah, grids are only so much work. They look nice on the bulletin board, but are good for little else." How might you respond to that individual?

5. Describe how an occupational grid can help both classroom/shop and school guidance?


Feedback

Compare your written responses to the Self Check with the Model Answers given below. Your answers need not exactly duplicate the model responses; however, you should have covered the same major points.

Model Answers

1. You might say simply that a grid is a form on which all the tasks for a general occupation are listed together with specific sub-occupations. Each sub-occupation also has displayed all the necessary tasks related to it. In essence each task is matched to each sub-occupation.

2. There may be an occupation in which all the tasks can be learned in a variety of shops within the school, thus eliminating the need for a specific shop to train for that occupation. For example, all the skills for Mobile Home Repair can be taught in several shops in the school from carpentry to electrical to heating/air conditioning.

3. If the tasks entered on the grid have not been previously validated by an incumbent worker survey or craft committee, several tasks may ultimately be removed, upsetting the accuracy and/or neatness of an up-to-date grid. Likewise, if the task list is not accurate, the students may be trained with skills for which they have no need. Obviously, if the sub-occupations are not identified, the specialization would not be possible, nor would be the many unique uses of a grid. In fact, if just the "basic" or general occupation is shown, there would be little need for a grid!