How Technical Schools Are Handling Reduced In-Person Learning
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, February 3rd. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal.
How has the pandemic uniquely impacted vocational and technical schools?
Many school districts have shifted to remote learning during the pandemic, but that's not so easy for the nation's technical and vocational schools, where getting certified in fields like welding, plumbing, and cosmetology requires hands-on experience that can't always be done at home.
There's going to be a lot of learning loss and lost time for students who are graduating this year and even down the pipeline trying to get into maybe an associate's program at a community college. Businesses are going to find a little bit of trouble hiring, I would imagine.
These programs have had to do a lot of improvising to ensure that students' paths to a good-paying career aren't derailed. Coming up, our reporter Anne Michaud will discuss the challenges they're facing and we'll talk with the superintendent of one technical school about how they're responding. That's after the break.
Vocational and technical schools offer hands-on coursework to ensure that students have a path to a well-paying job. But those programs have had to adapt to a lot in recent years, and especially during the pandemic. In a moment, we'll be speaking with Sheila Harady from the Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in Massachusetts. But first, we're joined by our reporter Anne Michaud. She's been looking into the challenges schools are facing. Anne, thanks for being with us.
Thank you, JR.
So we often picture technical and vocational schools teaching things like manufacturing, cosmetology, construction. How have these programs expanded recently to help train students for modern jobs?
Which new career areas are technical schools adding beyond traditional trades?
Right now, there's a lot of emphasis on IT, cybersecurity, healthcare, and STEM fields, in addition to the manufacturing and automotive, which has sort of been the traditional backbone of the system.
And then there's the more immediate disruption from the pandemic. When we look further down the line beyond the students in the schools and we look at the businesses that will be hiring these students, how does this disruption affect them?
Well, I think that there's going to be a lot of learning loss and lost time for students who are graduating this year and even down the pipeline trying to get into maybe an associate's program at a community college. Businesses are going to find a little bit of trouble hiring, I would imagine. I know that at Montechuset Tech, Monty Tech they call it, The superintendent said she was talking with some of the unions to get them to relax their apprenticeship rules so that they would take some of these kids who aren't getting the hands-on, say, in construction or electrical right now.
Now, speaking of the Montachusett School, Superintendent Sheila Harady has been making changes to keep the program running during the pandemic. And she joins me now. Sheila, thank you for being with us. J.R., it's great to be with you. So technical programs require a lot of hands-on work from the students.
What are the anticipated effects of learning loss on employers and the workforce pipeline?
How have you had to improvise to overcome disruptions caused by the pandemic, you know, in terms of the equipment that they need?
So when we had to shift to remote last March, when Massachusetts realized at the time that COVID was in our state and we really needed to close down. Fortunately, we actually had a one-to-one Chromebook initiative already in our school for five years. And we were doing that for the remainder of the school year, but knew that we absolutely needed to get the students back into the building. It's really hard to teach plumbing and electrical skills without actually having the hands-on application that the school would provide. Plus the teachers were at home and it's pretty hard to use your pots and pans from your kitchen to show the students how to wire a home and so forth. So when we worked with our teachers union and our parents and our community members,
How did Montachusett Tech reorganize schedules to preserve hands‑on instruction?
And our school committee, of course, developing a plan for the return for this year. We knew that we needed the lens of how can we get as much hands-on activities and engage the students at a school as possible in the most safest fashion.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:10
2
How has the pandemic uniquely impacted vocational and technical schools?
0:10–1:49
3
Which new career areas are technical schools adding beyond traditional trades?
1:49–3:16
4
What are the anticipated effects of learning loss on employers and the workforce pipeline?
3:16–4:16
5
How did Montachusett Tech reorganize schedules to preserve hands‑on instruction?
4:16–5:21
6
What equipment and at‑home solutions did cosmetology and other programs use?
5:21–6:32
7
How did Montachusett coordinate with unions and licensing boards to protect apprenticeships?
6:32–7:53
8
How are schools recruiting students by promoting career earnings and alternative pathways?
7:53–10:11
Speakers
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