Technology & Engineering Education (TEE) is a field of study that is comprehensive in the area of technology. How does this differ from Career & Technical Education (CTE)? Currently, most TEE educators fall within the scope of CTE, primarily because of an antiquated funding system. 

Several states, including Missouri, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, New York, Maryland, Virginia, and Illinois have recognized the importance of TEE and have included TEE within their state CTE layouts. Excellent examples would include Missouri (https://dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/career-education/technology-engineering-education and Wisconsin (https://dpi.wi.gov/te Maryland (http://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/Pages/CTE/TechnologyEducation.aspx has even made TEE a graduation requirement for all public school students. Like Kansas, these states also support the degree-awarding institutions within these states. In Kansas, we are fortunate having two (2) institutions that award degrees in Technology & Engineering Education (Pittsburg State University and Fort Hays State University).

A poll conducted by KTEEA in the 2018-2019 school year, noted that nearly 70% of the CTE teachers polled (N=315) received their degree (e.g. Technology & Engineering Education or Industrial Arts) from Pittsburg State University or Fort Hays State University. This year, there have been 48 openings in Kansas alone which holders of a TEE degree could and should fill these openings. Fewer candidates entering the teaching profession compound this problem. Although TEE is a licensed field in Kansas, if you conduct a search on the KSDE website for Technology Education, or Technology and Engineering Education, you will get zero results, essentially making the degree invisible within our state’s information resource. Kansas needs to support these programs and grow the number of TEE graduates in order to help support the school districts in our state. What inevitably happens is if schools cannot find a qualified candidate to teach CTE, Technology & Engineering Education, or STEM Education, will either:

1.) Implement a program that simply needs a facilitator, rather than a teacher.

2.) Pull an individual from industry with little to no teaching background.

3.) Closes the program entirely.

Finally, TEE licensure provides schools with one of the most versatile degrees. KTEEA reviewed the KSDE Licensed Personal Guide and determined TEE graduates are licensed to teach over 100 different courses in the CTE Career Clusters and Pathways. During the 2019 Four-State Regional Technology Conference, KTEEA distributed a list of the ‘high-need’ areas of education in Kansas. In this document, Kansas separated the different openings in the respective CTE Clusters and Pathways. However, if KSDE had combined all of those areas (because a TEE candidate could teach of those areas) CTE would be considered ‘high-need’ competing with vacancies in areas such as Special Education and Mathematics.