What Is Voc Ed's Role?

When asked to describe the role of vocational education in the schooling of this nation's workforce, most educators (and citizens) would say it is to prepare students for work in a given trade or vocational area. The question, however, should also be, whether vocational education should concentrate on preparing students for a specific job, or whether it should be more focused on broader career development, including lifelong learning, employability, and cognitive skills in many areas.

Some educators believe that this new and emerging workplace eliminates the viability of vocational education programs that concentrate solely on the acquisition of job skills. They contend that vocational education should concentrate more broadly on all aspects of their students' career development; it should expand its focus by initiating programs that prepare students with the "basic academic skills, the teachability and flexibility, the commitment to lifelong learning that permits them to rapidly change in ways required by new organizations of work or content changes in the processes and performances of work" (Herr 1995, p. 5).

Job Training and Vocational Education

In an effort to document the learning gains for students in secondary and adult full-time vocational programs, states are developing skill standards for given occupations upon which their vocational curricula are based. These standards form the basis for assessing students' entry-level occupational skills, plus the employability skills that are generic to all occupations.

The documentation of these skills then provides vocational program graduates with a diploma to present to potential employers, thus enhancing their ability to gain employment. Workers who have them will be able to move successfully from one job to another as demanded by the changing competitive market.

What Should Medical Assistant Students Learn?

The nature of a medical assistant's workplace today is different from that of the past. It is characterized by competition, cultural diversity, new technologies, and new management processes that require critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills as well as advanced levels of various complex job skills.

Medical assistant students should learn more than just skills related to a basic secretarial job and a "girl-friday" function on the clinical floors. They should be exposed to advanced administrative, interpersonal and clinical skills which will prepare them for the demands, ability, and versatility needed to assist medical doctors and healthcare providers provide excellent health and medical care, and run the medical office efficently, and productively.

They should also learn how to be well rounded citizens and professionals, as well as a little bit about themselves and their limitations. Combine this knowledge with fundamentals of patient care, medical office tasks, and essential professional skills, and their possiblities to succeed, and advance in their chosen careers become boundless:

1. Reading and writing medical terminology, and computation

2. Oral communication

3. Carefully listen, and following directions

4. Creative thinking and problem solving

5. Personal management (self-esteem, goal setting, motivation, personal/career development)

6. Group effectiveness (interpersonal skills, negotiation, teamwork)

7. Being meticulous, and finishing work on time

8. Organizational effectiveness and leadership