Vocational Training. What's that?

here are two different types of Vocationallarger.
Training. The first type is commercially orientedThe High School and Junior College locally based
vocational training programs. These are operatedhands on vocational training programs are often
by for profit organizations which have primarysomewhat limited
interest in the amount of profitability rather thanin the functional areas which they teach. This
the specific functional areas of coverage whichoften because of facilities constraints. There be
are offered.limited space available. In some the space available
The second type of Vocational Training comesis unsuitable for the type of training being
from the academic community. The two types ofperformed. For example, a classroom is not a
educational organizations most often involved insuitable place to conduct a class in performing
vocational training are High Schools ans Juniorauto body repair.
Colleges. Undergraduate programs and GraduateThe other common limitation facing schools
Schools are rarely involved in vocational training.offering hands on training, is finding qualified people
The commercial vocational education programsto teach the courses. It is often difficult to obtain
typically offer both home study programs throughexperienced instructors for many of the functional
correspondence/websites as well as local on site,areas for which hands on training is appropriate.
hands on, training. There are some Junior CollegesOne lack that exists in the entire vocational
who also offer home study programs. One barriersystem is a training program which provides the
to entry to the commercial vocational training isskills needed to improve productivity. Topics such
the enrollment costs. These can be quiteas productivity improvement, work measurement,
expensive. Typically the High School and Juniormethods and procedures, budgeting and
College vocational training classes are much lessconducting Requests for Quotations (RFQ) are
expensive than their commercially offered cousins.rarely addressed. This is despite the fact that
This applies to both local, hands on, training as wellproductivity improvement opportunities are
as to home study programs.available in most if not every enterprise.
One problem with home study programs is thatMany organizations have functional areas where
they are self paced. Students often sign up forpotential productivity can be as high as 45% of
such programs but lack the self discipline tothe cost of the function. Few enterprises have
continue them until completion. This often makesless than a 5% opportunity for productivity
for a high drop out rate.improvement.
In the cases where completion of a courseThese disciplines can benefit from both hands on
counts for credit toward a work related skill. Thetraining and from self paced study programs.
motivation exists so that completion rates grow