CORE, STEM, CTE = EDUCATION

Because education is near and dear to my heart (or my philosophical way of life) I feel the need to drop this on my blog for future reference... 

  

http://icte.us/ctec/career-technical-education-in-new-york-city/ 

 In addition to traditional academic high school programs, New York City offers Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs that focus on specific industries that drive the New York economy. CTE programs are specially certified by the New York State Education Department and feature four important elements. A CTE program is not just a shop class or a one-term elective, it’s a multi-year program of study that results in a Technical Endorsement recognized by industry and post-secondary educational institutions.  

A CTE graduate receives a regular NY State Regents diploma plus a Technical Endorsement signifying industry-related skills. CTE graduates go on to four-year and two-year colleges, technical schools, apprenticeships and job-related training programs. 

 

Nationwide, research studies show that participation in CTE minimizes the risk of students dropping out of high school, and students attending CTE high schools have higher rates of on-time graduation and a greater likelihood of successfully completing a college prep sequence.  

In New York City, a 2014 report from the Community Service Society found that students who attend the City’s CTE schools “are more likely to graduate compared to students who attend non-CTE schools, despite the fact that students who attend CTE schools have, on average, characteristics that are associated with a lower likelihood of graduating.” Further, “black and Latino males, and students with slightly below average 8th grade test scores, show the greatest graduation gains in CTE schools.” 

To keep up with the changing economy of New York City, CTE programs are always being updated and added in a wide range of disciplines divided into fifteen broad categories: 

• Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources 
• Architecture & Construction 
• Arts, A/V Technology & Communication 
• Business, Management & Administration 
• Health Science 
• Cosmetology 
• Marketing, Sales and Services 
• Hospitality & Tourism 
• Education & Training 
• Finance 
• Human Services 
• Information Technology 
• Law & Public Safety 
• Manufacturing & Production 
• Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics 
• Transportation, Distribution & Logistics 

New York’s 318 career and Technical education programs live in academic high schools as well as dedicated CTE high school. Of the 51 all-CTE schools, 32 have been added since 2003. These new CTE programs have been designed as small schools with a career theme and have been co-located on campuses around the five boroughs. The new schools align to labor market trends, preparing students for careers in growth fields like information technology, culinary arts, green careers, advertising and media. 

FM Influences City Codes?

Friday, it was very fitting that we were having a training session about how to react (what's the proper protocol) when the fire alarm system is activated - in any way. Our building is classified as a High Rise - Group B, so it's not just a 100% evac situation. Insert a bunch of FDNY mumbo jumbo here to get the meat of the story.

According to the Fire Safety Director, High Rise owners are having problems falling in alignment with the FDNY Code and creating solid emergency action plans. He continued to explain that because of the evolution of Facility Management / Managers, Building Operators, Facility Managers, etc, building owners couldn't keep up with the changes. 

He gave a great example: Back when the last overhaul of the code happened, in the 70's, facility managers, building operators, etc, were the men who basically lived in the building, they knew every nook and cranny. But now that facility managers and building operators control many buildings at one time, there are no longer fire wardens or searchers that truly know a building. He also made it a point to call out what the implications were of having outsourced maintenance teams. As a result FDNY has instituted listing of fire wardens and or searchers on every floor of buildings so when activations occur the FDNY knows who to go to and those appointed people are in charge of knowing the ins and outs of their floors and its occupants. 

This whole example conversation lasted about 5 minutes before we moved on to the material that we were really there to cover. I sat there partially dazed only because it was something so simple, yet so complex. That said... time to identify some Fire Wardens and Searchers! 

Interesting Re-Read of the Day

See... still so much information gathering going on in my little brain. 

http://www.workforce.com/articles/21004-millennial-in-training 

This needs some re-writing to be applicable. #edited ***

ORIGINAL: 

"Yet some companies are unprepared to deal with this rapidly unfolding generational shift in leadership. It’s all too easy to believe that current approaches for developing leaders will work for millennials — they won’t. A focus on leadership development as usual will leave you vulnerable to losing the best and brightest of your youthful workforce. You can embrace the challenge of doing what it really takes to develop millennial leaders or watch them walk out the door to head up a competitor’s operation."

MY VERSION: 

Most in the facility management industry are unprepared to deal with the rapidly unfolding generational shift. It’s all too easy to believe that current approaches for developing facility managers will work for millennials — they won’t. A focus on developed management, honed through years of experience, will leave the industry vulnerable to losing the best and brightest of the youthful workforce. The facility management industry MUST embrace the challenge of doing what it really takes to develop millennial facility managers or watch them walk out the door to another industry.

The article goes on to touch on: 

- adaptation of technology

- peer vs professional (need to go revisit this subject in another post)

- change management

- digital natives

- fluidity & collaboration

- soft management skills (see peer vs professional)

- "helping them, helps us"


***Just to be clear, I won't be using that paragraph in my thesis, but this is more a look into how I read an article and that information translates in my brain. Everything that I seem to pick up and read regarding millennials can all be translated into how it relates specifically to facility management. #truth

What my thesis does and it doesn't.

I don’t argue that technology stimulates or attracts millennials to the industry, but I address how technology would keep them or does keep them in the FM world. Older generations previously steered clear of technology for various reasons; one of them is the training of technology is very involved and evolves at a fast pace; being so hands on with managing facilities, older generations didn’t take the time to invest in technology like IWMS, BIM, etc, mostly because they didn't have the time! There are theories that Facility Managers are silo'd so they didn't want to ask for help or admit that they needed the help that technology. A debate...

Other industries have or did embraced technology before FM, as a result FM has had no choice but to adapt and we’re playing catch up. When you’re talking about BIM for example our relationship with architecture has fueled the drive for FMs to adapt; ex: architecture develops technology to make their lives easier, specifically in context of a client (if you can show them exactly what their facility is going to look like, they will be oohhh'd and ahhhh’d, and have buy in). FM needs info from architects to run facilities effectively and this information comes digitally, only works in specific software, formats, etc etc. Previously FM’s would harvest the information themselves, sometimes ad hoc (staying silo’d). Technology breeds collaboration and transparency, something FM is becoming better at. 

I do touch on “gamification” of the industry in the context of teaching and training millennials, even though I hate that word and use a different phrase. I try and compare 'gamification' to previous methods of learning which was/is long, hands on training sessions in a classroom setting; my generation isn't anywhere near that anymore, we fall asleep.