CTE (Career and Technical Education)

What is CTE (Career and Technical Education)?

A career and technical education (CTE) provides professional skills training to students preparing for work readiness. The academics provided by career and technical schools also equip students for advanced degrees.

Primarily, CTE courses focus on employability and the hands-on technical skills required for a specific occupation. Compared to traditional education, CTE focuses more on practicing essential skills for job training and does not have as heavy of an emphasis on theory and textbook memorization.

A career and technical education can be for all ages, from middle school students and recent high school graduates to adults seeking a career change. Exploratory CTE pathway programs like Early College Advanced Manufacturing Pathway (ECAMP™) introduces young learners to several industries, like advanced manufacturing, while providing dual credit.

A career and technical education typically offers enrolled students certificate and associate degree options in various industries.

16 common CTE career clusters include:

  1. Health Science
  2. Business
  3. Sales
  4. Finance
  5. Information Technology
  6. STEM
  7. Manufacturing
  8. Logistics
  9. Hospitality
  1. Government
  2. Law
  3. Agriculture
  4. Human Services
  5. Construction
  6. Training
  7. Arts, Audio/Visual Technology and Communication

While learners prepare for today’s and tomorrow’s labor market, CTE programs close the skills gap between the talent’s employers need and the training acquired by potential employees.

A career and technical education prepare students through supportive step-by-step application assessments. By practicing for a particular profession before they graduate, students studying their specific field become high-demand entry-level employees with experience.

Interested in a career-focused program? Visit our majors page.

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