CareerOneStop Connections
Career and Technical Education Tools and Resources
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.