A case study of students' perceptions of the Central Texas Manufacturing Consortium of basic skills development training program at McLennan Community College /
Community colleges have been challenged to take a leadership role in workforce development training programs in conjunction with employers and the government. Many of the community colleges' special population students enrolled in workforce development training programs are welfare-to-work mot...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2001.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=729050511&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Community colleges have been challenged to take a leadership role in workforce development training programs in conjunction with employers and the government. Many of the community colleges' special population students enrolled in workforce development training programs are welfare-to-work mothers, ex-felons, reformed drug users, minorities, persons with disabilities, and others that are on the fringes of society. This study is framed around adult participation in workforce development training programs. The problem is that community college educators know little of why individuals enroll and participate in workforce development training programs and how these participants perceive, understand, and interpret workforce development training programs from their world perspective. This is a qualitative case study using in-depth interviews of 18 subjects who were enrolled in the training program. The major findings are: Participants demonstrated resiliency in overcoming major personal setbacks that adversely impacted their jobs, careers, and personal lives. Participants perceived themselves as needing a career or job change as a result of recent precipitating events that influenced them to enroll. Male participants overwhelmingly saw the training program as a means to an end, namely to get a job, while the female participants saw the training program both as a means to an end (to get a job) and as meeting their desire to learn, namely, their love of learning. Participants viewed the consortium members as desirable employers, stable companies providing permanent employment with good fringe benefits, and the program as providing a mutually beneficial connection between themselves and the companies. Female participants expressed doubts that some of the companies would hire them. Participants gave credit to the instructors' interactions with students, instructors' teaching styles, and support from other students for contributing to a supportive and positive learning environment. Female participants saw learning as acquiring new skills and knowledge while the male participants saw learning as a reinforcement and review of subjects and skills they had previously learned. The study makes ten recommendations to policy makers, administrators, and adult education practitioners for the improvement of practices in workforce development programs and three recommendations for additional areas of research. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Educational Human Resource Development". |
| Physical Description: | ix, 153 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-145). |