Model 2: Combining Vocational and Academic Teachers to Enhance Academic Competencies in Vocational Programs
The second model proposed by Grubb, Davis, Lum, Phihal, and Morgaine (1991) calls for academic and vocational teachers to work together in teams to improve the academic content of vocational courses. Together these teachers may develop more academic exercises, such as essay questions or mathematic applications, for use in vocational courses. They also may team-teach applied academic courses. The academic teachers may teach individual academic lessons in the vocational classroom or serve as in-house tutors for students who need remedial work in academic subjects.
Grubb, Davis, Lum, Phihal, and Morgaine (1991) describe the advantages of this model:
"The real strength of this approach is the collaboration between the vocational and academic teachers. The vocational teachers have a resource that is normally unavailable to them, since communication between vocational and academic teachers is usually poor.... A second advantage of this model is that the very presence of academic teachers within a vocation program highlights the importance of academic material." (p. 28)
This model also has disadvantages. Grubb, Davis, Lum, Phihal, and Morgaine (1991) note:
"It suffers, of course, from a need for resources: It is necessary to allocate funds for academic teachers to work specifically with vocational programs, and because there is a great deal of team teaching in this model, the instructional cost per student is higher than normal." (p. 29)
"Another disadvantage of this approach arises in area vocational schools, the most common application we have seen. By their nature, area vocational schools remain segregated from the academic coursework in their feeder high schools, and they have little power to modify the content or teaching in these feeder schools. In addition, the students in area vocational schools remain segregated for half the day from those in the academic tracks. This model, therefore, operates solely by modifying the vocational curriculum and enriching it with academic material where appropriate; even so, in other ways it is powerless to integrate vocational and academic education." (p. 29)
For further information on combining vocational and academic teachers in vocational courses, refer to Integrating Science and Math in Vocational Education (Lankard, 1993).
