The identification, verification, and validation of competencies needed by vocational teacher educators

The problem of the study was a lack of well-defined vocational teacher educator curricular programs due to an inadequate research base of the vocational teacher educator role and its integral parts. The major purpose of,the study was to identify, verify, and validate competencies needed by vocational teacher educators. Secondary purposes were to (a) compare perceptions of administrators of vocational teacher educator programs and teacher educators concerning competencies needed by the vocational teacher educator and (b) develop a profile of the contemporary vocational teacher educator.

Seventy-three vocational teacher educator competencies were identified through a literature review. The questionnaire developed for the study was pilot tested twice; the reliability estimate computed for the competency statements was .934.

The national samples consisted of 276 vocational teacher educators and 32 administrators from 1977-78 Education Professions Development Act (EPDA) project-approved institutions. Two hundred twenty-five usable teacher educator questionnaires and 29 administrator questionnaires were returned. Using a five-point scale, study participants indicated the degree of importance of the 73 competencies in the performing of duties as a vocational teacher educator at the graduate level. Teacher educator participants responded to selected demographic questions sso a profile of the contemporary vocational teacher educator could be developed.

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Program at The University of Tennessee Computing Center, Knoxville was used for data iv

analysis. Frequencies, percentages, and means were computed for the competencies. Tests of significant difference were computed at the .05 level. Independent t-tests were computed to determine significant differences between the competency mean importance ratings of teacher educators and administrators. One-way analysis of variance was used to test for significant differences among teacher educator perceptions of the competencies based on service area affiliation. Independent t-tests and one-way analysis of variance were used to test for significant differences among teacher educator perceptions of the competencies based on selected demographic variables. Bartlett's chi square test was used to test for homogeneity of variance. Scheffé was used as the a posteriori test.

Seventy-three competencies were identified, verified, and validated as needed by a vocational teacher educator; 20 were General competencies, 17 were Research competencies, 18 were Service competencies, and 18 were Teaching competencies.

Forty-five competencies received teacher educator mean importance ratings equal to or greater than 4.0 on a five-point scale indicating "of above average importance." Fourteen of the competencies were from the General cluster, 10 from Research, 6 from Service, and 15 from Teaching.

No significant differences were found among teacher educator and administrator perceptions of importance of the 73 competencies.

Results of Agricultural Education, Business/Office Education, Distributive Education, Home Economics Education, and Industrial Education teacher educator service area group perception comparisons

vi for competencies showed no significant differences for 82 percent (60) of the competencies.

The demographic variables of age, sex, and previous teaching experience had little effect on teacher educator perceptions of competencies required to perform the role of vocational teacher educator. The profile of a typical contemporary vocational teacher educator indicated a male age 36-45. He has 0-3 years of secondary teaching experience, 0 years of postsecondary teaching experience, and 8-10 years of teacher educator experience.

It is recommended that the competencies be used as guidelines for developing curricula for graduate vocational teacher educator preparation programs. The competencies should also be used as evaluation criteria for vocational teacher educator selection and promotion within the profession.