Did you know February is National Career and Technical Education month? Each year CTE month offers a chance to acknowledge the value and importance of career and technical education. And while the idea of career and technical education in secondary schools has been around for a long time, it’s recently become clearer that CTE makes a major impact on helping students find success in a wide range of careers.
Traditionally, American middle schools and high schools have promoted college as the primary avenue for students to achieve career success as adults—but CTE, with its focus on hard skills, career readiness, and learning a skilled profession, offers another path to success. It’s based less on learners’ conceptual understanding of a topic and more on their advancement as skilled workers.
A cornerstone of CTE is the framework of 14 Career Clusters that group similar occupations and industries in the U.S. job market. CareerOneStop draws on this framework for its Career Cluster content and videos. These resources can be a great place for both students and adults to begin exploring the world of work. There is a brief video and related content page for each of the 17 career clusters or industry groups. Each one highlights trends and quick facts that offer a glimpse into the industries related to the cluster. Users will also find lists of related careers that are organized by education requirements, so they can see at a glance which ones might relate to their own education goals
Check out these top five CareerOneStop training resources:
• Search for training programs or providers such as community colleges, private training schools, and public and private colleges and universities in your area.
• Includes public and private 2- and 4-year colleges and universities as well as WIOA-eligible training programs for every state.
• Filter by program length, online/in-person, type of award or degree, and more.
• Find current certifications for an occupation or industry.
• Find in-demand certifications, including ones mentioned frequently in job postings by employers.
• Certifications are categorized as core, advanced, specialty, skill, or product/equipment.
• Find information about professional licenses that states require for some occupations.
• See description, licensing agency and contact information, continuing education, and more.
• Search for national professional and industry associations related to a career or industry.
• Links directly to job listings for associations that offer them.
• Find the associations that sponsor professional certifications.
• Search more than 9,500 listings for scholarships and other financial assistance for education.
• Find award amounts, deadlines, how to apply, eligibility criteria, and purpose of award.
• Filter to see awards by locations, level of study, ethnic groups and affiliations, and more.