The relative effectiveness of two approaches to preparing vocational office education students for employment in office occupations

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine if an approach to the preparation for employment of vocational office education (VOE) students which required completion of laboratory training as preparatory training for cooperative work experience is superior to an approach in which the completion of traditional business courses served as preparatory training. The study also sought to determine if there was a difference in the business skills and attitudes toward work of students with the same teacher for both laboratory and work experience training, and those with different teachers for each phase of training in a two-year VOE program. Sample The population from which the sample was drawn consisted of 302 two-year VOE combination programs in Texas high schools. A stratified random sampling technique was utilized to select ten schools required for the sample. Five schools used the same teacher for both years of the program, and the other five schools used different teachers for each year of the program. The sample was comprised of 206 senior-year VOE students enrolled in cooperative training. Procedures A series of business skills tests and an attitudinal instrument were administered to the sample four to five weeks before the end of cooperative training to evaluate business skills and attitudes toward work. The business skills tests included Sections 1, 2, 3, and 6 (spelling, computation, checking, and reasoning) of the Purdue Clerical Adaptability Test, and a business letter to assess production typing ability. The Career Maturity Inventory (CMI), Attitude Scale, by J. O. Crites was used as an attitudinal instrument. The analysis of covariance was the statistical method employed for the study. ...