Date of Conferral

4-26-2024

Date of Award

April 2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Amy White

Abstract

Many career and technical education (CTE) programs have moved from face-to-face to virtual internships (VIs) to train students who are expected to enter the job market. The problem was that many graduates of CTE VIs demonstrate 21st century soft skills during VIs, but upon entering the workplace, are unable to demonstrate the same soft skills. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore secondary CTE teachers’ perceptions of how their instruction during VIs influenced students’ 21st-century soft skills to make student skills retainable and transferable; the TPACK conceptual framework was used as a lens for analysis. Semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted with 12 secondary CTE teachers from the Southeast region of the United States. Thematic analysis of data was used through open-ended pattern coding. Five themes emerged from this data: specific instructional practices to influence student learning of 21st century skills, researching industry skills standards to ensure alignment with state standards, specific training to facilitate VI instruction for students, combining industry and education knowledge to influence how students transfer learned skills to the workplace, and specific needs to help them influence student transference of workplace skills. This study may fill a gap in existing literature regarding the value of VIs in terms of students’ retention of 21st century soft skills and why those skills appear not to transfer to the workplace. The findings from this study may inform stakeholders about how to implement teacher professional development for VI instruction. This may help students transfer 21st century skills to the workplace and achieve their desired employment, which will promote positive social change for students and their communities.

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