Community-Referenced Instruction in Technological Work Settings

Two studies investigated the extent to which students with serious vocational handicaps could learn work behaviors in technological settings. In Study 1, 12 students learned a number of chemical laboratory tasks. The median amount of training time per task was 2 hours and 37 minutes. In Study 2, pre- and posttraining videotape vignettes of 6 students performing a technical task were presented to a group of 27 respondents. On a social validity questionnaire, they judged the students to be significantly ( p < .001) more vocationally competent after training. The characteristics of an effective secondary vocational training program are discussed.