A STUDY OF COMPETENCIES REQUIRED FOR COORDINATORS TO SUPERVISE OCCUPATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF SPECIAL VOCATIONAL NEEDS STUDENTS

The purpose of this study was to identify competencies that could be used in preparing individuals to become occupational coordinators of special vocational needs programs. To achieve this, a review of literature was completed identifying tasks related to occupational coordination activities. From the findings, an initial survey instrument was designed which allowed a nine-member expert panel to judge the apparent appropriateness of each of the 264 tasks selected from the review. The statements were then condensed into a 93 competency survey instrument which was distributed to 400 members of the 1978-79 National Association of Vocational Education Special Needs Personnel. Each member was requested to express the significance of each competency statement in the supervision of occupational experiences of special vocational needs students. A total of 240 surveys were used in the data analysis, including 65 from teachers, 33 from administrators, 19 from state supervisors, 27 from teacher educators, 78 from coordinators of occupational experiences and 18 from a variety of other professional or occupational areas. The competency statements were ranked in order of importance based on the mean scores and differential scores were standard for each target group & subscale. An analysis was also made of the responses between special vocational needs and non-special vocational needs personnel. Some of the conclusions included: (1) The state of the art of special vocational needs in cooperative education is in a formative stage. (2) All but three of the 93 competencies surveyed were verified by sample of the 1978-79 membership of the National Association of Vocational Education Special Needs Personnel. (3) The importance of the competencies in the Coordination category were inconclusive. (4) State Supervisors differed significantly about how important they felt a competency was, depending upon their involvement with special vocational needs. (5) Survival Skills, Professional Development, Career Guidance, and Communications and Public Relations competencies were often found to be important to the supervision of occupational experiences of special vocational needs students.