ED 049 357

AnliORTITLEINSTITUTION

REPORT NOPUB DATENOTE

EDRS PdICEDESCRIPTORS

IDENTIFIERS

DOCUMENT RESUME

VT 012 366

Yabroff, Bernard; Matland, Marc A.New Careers for the Subprofessional.National Center for Educational Research andDevelopment (DHEW/CE), Washington, D.C.; NationalCommittee on Employment of Youth, Washington, D.C.0E-110287026p.

EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29*Career Opportunities, *Educationally Disadvantaged,Employment Opportunities, *Human Services, JobDevelopment, Manpower Development, *ManpowerUtilization, Occupational Mobility, *SubprofessionalsNew Careers

ABSTRACTThe result of a conference on the employment of

subprofessionals in human services occupations, this bookletconsiders the dual role of the schools in both preparing andemploying subprofessionals to fill skilled manpower shortages. Notingthat New Careers programs tail when administrators and professionalsdo not accept the subprofessional in a permanent job with careeropportunities, the booklet describes the steps necessary to institutea successful program, namely: (1) job design and career development,(2) career ladders in health and education, (3) recruitment,selection, and training, (4) released-time training, and (5)

budgeting and planning. This report is based on a full conferencereport which is available as ED 029 169 (RIE October 1969). (BH)

,E CAREERSFOR THE

SUBPROFESSIO AL

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A job is one rung on the ladder of alifelong career of work. That is%Illy we must look at manpowertraining with new eyes: as acontinuing process to help people toget started in a job and to getahead in a career.

President Richard M. NixonMessage op Manpower Training tothe 91st Congress, August 12, 1969

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New Careersfor theSubprofessionalPrepared byBernard Yabroff and Marx A. MatlandNational Center for Educational Researchand Developmentin cooperation with theNational Committee on Employmentof Youth

I. S. Department of Health,Education, and WelfareElliot I, Richardson, Secretor)Office of EducationFerrel H. Bell, ActingCommissioner of Education

This publication is based on a conferencethat was supported by the U.S. Office ofEducation. The complete conferencereport, The Sub professional: FromConcepts to Careers, is available fromthe Educational Research InformationCenter, Document Reproduction Service,National Cash Register Company, 4936Fairmont Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland20014. The document number ED 029169 should be used when ordering.Microfiche, $.75; hard copy $9.35; 185pages. .

Superintendent of Documents CatalogNo. HE 2.511:11028

U.S. Government Printing OfficeWashington: 1970

For sale by the Superintendent ofDocuments, U.S. Government PrintingOfficeWashington, D.C. 20402Price 30 cents

CONTENTS

Foreword 1

Introduction

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Subprofessionals and NewCareers .... 6

Why Programs Fail . 11

Expediency 11

Professional Resistance 11

Other Problems .. 13

Steps to Siiccessful Programs 15

Job Design and ,CareerDevelopment 15

Recruitment, Selection. andbraining 17

Released- 1 ime '1 raining: AVital Need 18

Oxercoming Resistance 19

Budgeting and Planning . 20

Education's Unique Role 21"

Ishe Challenge and the .,Promise 22

FOREWORD

One of the most importantproblems facing the Nation todayis the paradox of large numbers ofunemployed and underemployedexisting side-by-side with urgentshortages of manpower in criticaland expanding human and publicservice fieldsprincipally health,education, and welfare. The primaryexplanation for this pat adox is themismatch between the low-levelskills of these workers and the skillsrequired by available jobs.

One limited solution to theproblem is the expansion ofsubprofessional job opportunities inwhich lower skilled workers merelyassume the simpler tasks nowperformed by professionals butwhich do not require professionalcompetence. Because such jobs lackstatus and opportunities foradvancement, they do not meet theindividual needs of thesubprofessional (also calledparaprofessional, auxiliary, aide, orsome other title) who, like theprofessional, aspires to jobs whichprovide personal and careersatisfaction. Meeting these needs ofthe individual as well as urgenthuman service manpowerrequirements can be achieved,however, through the developmentand use of subprofessionals in newcareers models which providehierarchies of meaningful jobs and

which include an education ortraining component that permitsworkers to move or advance fromone job level to another.

Schools have a dual role in thisprocess. Not only are they importantemployers of subprofessionals but,as part of their traditional role ofpreparing young people and adultsfor employment and socialresponsibility, they must assume amajor share of the responsibility ofproviding training forsubprofessionals in all fields. Thislatter role is particularly relevantin vocational education, which hasalready begun to reassess many ofits traditional goals and methods inorder to serve occupationallyoriented youth more effectively.

This new focus for vocationaleducation was emphasized in theVocational Education Amendmentsof 1968 which provided that fundsavailable for research and traininggrants and contracts may be usedfor a wide range of "projects in thedevelopment of new careers."Support for the use ofsubprofessionals in new careersprograms is also specificallyincluded in the EconomicOpportunity Act, the VocationalRehabilitation Act, and the JuvenileDelinquency Prevention andControl Act. Moreover, Congress,in many other legislative acts, hasprovided for program supportwhich may be used for the

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employment and training ofsubprofessionals in new careersprograms.

A conference held in June 1967explored the expanding role ofsubprofessionals, the research anddevelopment needed to providecareer ladder models andappropriate training programs, andways to increase and improve theemployment of subprofessionals inthree human service fieldshealth,education, and welfare. Theconference was conducted by theNational Committee onEmployment of Youth (New York,N.Y.), with the support of theDivision of Comprehensive andVocational Education Research ofthe U.S. Office of Education'sBureau of Research (now theNational Center for EducationalResearch and Development).

This publication summarizes andsharpens the issues identified in thecomprehensive and technicalconference reportTheSubprofessional: From Conceptsto Careers. It is designed to providean introduction to the basic issuesin the development and utilizationof subprofessionals, 'particularlyin new careers programs; anoverview of the problems that canimpede the best use ofsubprofessionals; and a summaryof recommendations that could, ifadopted, result in improvements.

Professionals and laymen whoneed a nontechnical introduction tothe subprofessional concept shouldfind this brochure helpful. It shouldbe particularly relevant forvocational educators whose role isvital to the success of new careersprograms in all the human andpublic services.

Robert E. PruittActing DirectorDivision of Comprehensive and

Vocational Education Research

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INTRODUCTION

A fourth-grader in a ghetto schoolsits quietly reading at the back ofhis classroom while his teacher triesto cope with the demands of 40other children whose home andschool experiences have left themyears behind children of their ownage in white suburban schools. Thequiet fourth-grader, who not longago could scarcely read his name,has been working with Miss Smith,a teacher aide. Now, thanks toMiss Smith's training and the long,patient hours she has spent withhim, he is catching up with hisclass and, more important,discovering that books can bringpleasure instead of pain. In far toomany instances, fourth-graders withlow reading ability have been leftto sit in similar classrooms for manyunproductive, falling-behind years.With the help of teacher aides, suchchildren can receive individualassistance in learning how to learnand in discovering how learning canmake a difference in their lives.

Many aides, such as Miss Smith,previously undereducated and oftenrecruited from the ghetto throughantipoverty programs, have learnedthe techniques of teaching readingfrom remedial reading experts.These professionals can now devotemost of their time to the demandingand difficult task of diagnosingreading problems.

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For lack of a better word, MissSmith is often referred to as a"subprofessional." Like othersubprofessionals employed inhospitals and clinics, welfaredepartments, and schools, she doesnot have the traditional educationalcredentials that mark the fullprofessional. But she does have anunderstanding born of experienceand a desire for the kind of workthat brings self-respect and dignity,now combined with some valuabletraining.

The use of such personnel hasmany advantages. The schoolchildneeds help nowand gets it. Some-one who needs a job with potentialfor self-fulfillmentgets it. And allwho want the kind of improvedquality of life that results from moreand better human servicesget it.

If many more subprofessionals arenot employed, manpower shortageswill continue to hinder efforts toincrease and improve human andpublic services. And worse shortageswill occur as public demandintensifies for decent health care,quality education for all, andwelfare programs that end ratherthan perpetuate dependency. Thedifficulty in providing and improvingsuch services is underlined by thesheer magnitude of anticipatedmanpower needs in major publicservice fields.

Between 1966 and 1975, man-power needs in health-related

occupations are expected to increaseat least 36 percent, which means thatwe must have about 110,000 morephysicians, 360,000 additionalregistered nurses, and 250,000more practical nurses. In welfare,an estimated 10,000 to 12,000vacancies already exist in currentlybudgeted social service positions.About 15,000 social workers areneeded annually just to staff newchild care and health programs andto replace workers leaving the field.In education, an estimated 1.6million new elementary andsecondary school teachers will beneeded between 1967 and 1975 toreplace teachers who leave theeducation system and to maintaintrends in current teacher-pupil ratios.

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Subprofessionalsand New Careers

Although it is difficult to assessthe relationship between professionalManpower shortages and the qualityof human services provided, manyadministrators feel that excessiveworkloads have impairedeffectiveness throughout theseservice occupations. For example,the nursing profession considerspatient care safe and efficient, or atleast proportionately so, when 45percent of the care is provided byprofessionals, 30 percent bypractical nurses, and 25 percent byaides. But a survey foundprofessional nurses providing anaverage of only 30 percent ofpatient care, and concluded that therecommended formula is clearlyunattainable. In many city schools,pupil loads are well over ratedcapacity. In most urban centers,average class'size is higher thanmost experts consider desirable.Similarly, caseloads in virtually allpublic welfare establishments arerunning highoften almost doublethe generally accepted maximumnumber of 60.

This situation is not likely toimprove significantly. Availableevidence clearly shows that evensubstantial expansion of the supplyof professional personnel will notmeet all professional manpower

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requirements. However, more andbetter human services can beachieved by restructuring the tasksperformed in a service system andby reorganizing the methods ofservice delivery. In many serviceoccupations, a significant portion ofprofessional talent is being wastedon work that could be performedby subprofessionals. For example,doctors spend 30 to 70 percent oftheir time at functions not requiringtheir full training; nurses devoteor to two-fifths of theirtime performing nonnursing tasks;and medcal personnel in clinicsspend uncounted hours on socialwelfare rather than medicalproblems.

Subprofessionals, employedefficiently in a reorganized systemfor providing services, can improvethe professional's performance andthus improve the quality of theservices. In the health professions,for example, a revision of theexisting roles of registered nurse,practical nurse, and nurse's aide, orthe addition of new occupations,could free hard-pressed professionalsfrom duties requiring lower levelsof competence. In education, arevision of current staffing patternsto include new kinds of teachingpersonnel would substantially easethe problem of lowering student-teacher ratios by reducing therequired number of additionalconventionally credentialed teachers.

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Almost any practical use of sub-professionals can help alleviate theeffects of professional manpowershortages, increase the efficiency ofprofessionals, and provide improvedservices. However, the contributionof subprofessionals can be increasedby developing new careers pro-grams in which tasks and skills areorganized into one or more careersequences or hierarchies. Suchprograms are designed to improvethe efficiency of all agency person-nel, provide more, better, and newservices, and permit more efficientuse of agency resources. Theseprograms go beyond mere prepara-tion for subprofessional employmentin entry-level, menial, make-work,or dead-end jobs. They requireidentification and construction ofcareer ladders which have increasinglevels of job responsibility, status,and pay, and educational programswhich are directly linked to training.The educational and training com-ponents must be designed to qualifyworkers for meaningful, satisfying,decently paid jobs as well asopportunities for advancementcommensurate with their ability,experience, and interest.. Such new careers programs are ofspecial value to the poor becausethey provide opportunities foremployment and career developmentto those with low levels of educationand training; however, it would bea mistake to equate the idea of new

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careers with the poor. The desirefor better jobs, sometimes describedas the search for self-respect throughuseful work, is characteristic ofindi:viduals from all economic andsocial backgrounds. These programscan not only improve the quality ofhuman services and the careerpotential of the poor, but they canalso provide a more flexibleemployment and educational climatein which even high school graduates,college undergraduates, or pro-fessional trainees can test theirvocational interests, aptitudes, andabilities before making careercommitments.

Subprofessionals in Health

In the health field, thesubprofessional role can beexpanded as it was in theMontefiore-Morrisania Hospital'sNeighborhood Health Centerprogram in the Bronx, New York.There, teams composed of aphysician, a public health nurse,and a subprofessional family healthworker brought medical care andsocial services to the community.This combination of the teamapproach with the use ofsubprofessionals offers greatpotential and flexibility.

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Subprofessionals in Education

The use of subprofessionals in theschoolroom helps free the teacherto use professional skills to thefullest, providing children withmore individualized attention andestablishing a valuable reservoirof manpower. In the State ofWashington, large numbers of aidesare employed by the schools: aboutone-third in lunchrooms orplaygrounds, and two-thirds in theclassroom where they read tochildren, tutor, and help prepareinstructional materials.

Subprofessionals in Social Welfare

In many welfare agencies,subprofessionals handle cases likeold-age assistance not requiringspecialized casework services orfrequent changes in service. Forinstance, an older client mayrequire only food preparationassistance or transportation on acontinuing basis. In more difficultcases, subprofessionals handle thatportion of the work, such asdetermination of eligibility, thatdoes not really require professionalsocial work training. Beyond suchareas of established service, thewelfare subprofessional could helpin housing and living arrangements,homemaking, consumer education,and practical counseling on foodand money management. He or shecould work in job development andplacement, employment preparation,family planning, legal referral andcounseling and with client groups oncommunity problems. Otherpotential subprofessional rolesinclude social care for the aged,child care, day care, finding fosterhomes, and screening foster parents.

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Why Programs FailIt has been difficult to get

administrators, professionals, andothers to understand and accept theconcepts of new careers. Moreover,it has been even more difficult toput the concepts into practice. Forexample, the large number of sub-professionals hired in the humanservices has been gratifying but, withfew exceptions, these employees arewomen employed in entry-level jobswhich are not part of comprehensivenew careers development programsincorporating education andtraining.

There are generally no clearstandards for selecting or upgradingsubprofessionals other than conven-tional certifications which, in turn,are most often based on completingspecified levels of formal education.Advancement opportunities, there-fore, are generally limited to thosewho can afford full-time college orprofessional training. Moreover, toimplement new careers programs,complex problems of institutionalchange will have to be overcome,such as changes in Civil Serviceregulations, budgetary procedures,and attitudes of agency personneland clients.

ExpediencyA principal reason for program

failure is the frequent use of sub-professionals as expedients to easeprofessional manpower shortages

without redefining the professional'srole. The jobs thus created havebeen inherently temporary, the workhas been considered undemandingand relatively unimportant, andopportunities for advancementgenerally have been limited.

Closely related to expediency isthe concept that subprofessionalwork is intended exclusively toeliminate poverty and unemploy-ment. Under this concept, incomehas been emphasized at the expenseof job integrity. CohseqFqntly thiswell-intentioned but shcirt-sightedpractice provides only a few jobs foruntrained, undereducated people,but neglects the task of designingjobs for service expansion andimprovement. Much of the difficultyin translating subprofessional jobsinto careers results from manage-ment and professional resistance tothe idea that persons less welleducated than themselves possessthe potential for providing servicesefficiently. It is this potential thathas to be sought out and developed.

Professional ResistanceProfessionals traditionally assert

their prerogative to decide how, andby whop, functions will beperformed. Professionals often fearthat their influence will be diluted ortheir status and wages threatened bysubprofessionals. However, thecontrary position has also beenadvancedthat broadening thesubprofessional role will improve

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salaries, staffing patterns, andworking conditions for professional:.Neither argument can be sustainedby much experience.

Although resistance byprofessionals to the use of newcareerists has been decreasing, itcan still be found in varying degreesdepending un local circumstances.In education, the broad use ofsubprofessional talent in a aewcareers framework has 1aggt.dbecause many teachers have alimited view of the role and potentialof the subprofessional. AltlitA,ghmore subprofessionals are beingused in schools, the roles for manycf. them remain basically unchangedfrom the days when schools enlistedvolunteers or hired a few workerswho were paid out of local PTA ornonbudgeted funds to help teachersput on children's overshoes orsupervise field trips. However, theuse of such personnel in insti uctior alcapacities, where the nted isgreatest, is still opposed by mansteachers. Lack of agreement amongteachers and other educators, andparents on what is good educationfurther complicates the problem,deflecting interest from seriouslyexploring the potential contributicii6of subprofessionals.

The basic problem in welfare, asin education, stems from theconcepts of professionalism held byprofessional personnel. Social workprofessionals, trained in casework,

are still finding it difficult to identifysubprofessional roles in the caseworkmodel. The shift in emphasis inwelfare from establishment ofeligibility to the provision of serviceshas reinforced the position of manysocial workers, including adminis-trators, that casework servicesshould be provided only byacademically trained professionals.Moreover, to those who have arguedthat a college graduate could do abetter job than just a plain motherlywoman, advocacy of the use ofsubprofessionals is a regression.

This situation has to a large extentprevented the wholesale involvementof subprofessionals in what isbecoming the main emphasis ofpublic welfareserving the totalneed of a welfare client rather thanmerely providing an assistancepayment.

States have tended to limit theirservices to those that are generallyprovided by caseworkers having atleast a college degree rather than tothose services which could readilyprovide jobs for large numbers ofsubprofessionals, for example, inhomemaking and child care. Thelong-term impact of the 1967amendments to the Social SecurityAct, which require that State plansprovide for the training and effectiveuse of paid subprofessional staff,has yet to be assessed.

In the health field, an elaboratestructure of licensing, once thought

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of as a safeguard for the public, isa principal factor that now inhibitsinnovative uses of manpower, sincelicensure generally requiressubstantial formal education ortraining not possessed or availableto full-time entry level workers.Furthermore, clear managerialappreciation of, or commitment to,job redesign is often lacking. Theseand similar factors may still limitsubprofessional health roles,resulting in high turnover rates andrepelling desirable candidates.

Other Problems

Civil Service and other centrallystructured merit systems emphasizeeducational attainment so thatadministrators find it difficult topermit employment of sub-professionals in jobs above the entrylevel. Similarly, conventionalqualifying examinations and testsfor licensure usually are not relevantfor selecting subprofessionals.

There are also other barriers toeffective new careers programs.Budget limitations, not only of sizebut of form, are common. Someadministrators feel that it is moredifficult to increase allocations forpersonnel than for capitalimprovements. Furthermore, whenallocations are for line budgets,each job category may be specifiedleaving the manager little flexibilityfor employment innovations.

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Steps to SuccessfulPrograms

Although the problems maysound formidable, they are notinsurmountable. From theobservations of administrators ofsubprofessional programs have comemany specific suggestions fordeveloping strong and effective newcareers programs.

Job Design and Career DevelopmentA beginning job, they learned,

must be considered as only a firststep in career development ifsubprofessional occupations are tobe more than dead-end jobs. Thebeginner's tasks may be simple, butthey must be useful and substantialenough to give the job integrity andto allow it to serve as a testing andtraining position for possibleadvancement. Furthermore, the jobmust provide a decent wage becausesome workers will not advancebeyond the entry level and otherswill not realize their potential foradvancement because of immediatefamily or other pressures.

In structuring a career sequence,job and pay levels should bedifferentiated on the basis of specificperformance standards rather thanminimum education, years ofexperience, or other general require-ments that may not reflect abilityto do the job.

Without a long-range point ofview in planning new careersprograms, there is the very real riskof simply creating a whole newcategory of entry-level, menial jobs.Most of the several hundredthousand people already employedin subprofessional categories holdonly low-level jobs with little hopefor advancement. With fewexceptions, the traditional role ofthe hospital nurse aide illustratesthis common mistake. Many highpotential aides are left stranded inmenial jobs because advancementis restricted to the few who have thetime, the money, and theperseverance to seek furthertraining and education on their owntime.

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Career Ladders in Health

The San Francisco Home HealthService, a privately financed agencyfounded in 1957, has providedalternate advancement opportunitiesand varying entry points for itsemployees. The agency hirededucated, unemployed women as"homemakers" to provide servicesto people too ill to leave theirhomes. Workers entered at thehomemaker level, received on-the-job and released-time training, andreceived a pay raise when theyobtained certification and advancedto home health aide. The next stepup wasclerk, then scheduler, andfinally field service worker . Analternate path led to the position oflicensed practical nurse and, beyond,to registered nurse. The agencysends promising and interestedcandidates to college on a full-timebasis as they pursue these careers.

Career Ladders in Education

The Minneapolis schools employsome 700 subprofessionals withvarying levels of education asteacher aides, school social workaides, and guidance aides, withopportunities for education andadvancement to higher levelpermanent jobs financed, in part,with local funds. Aide I, Aide II,and assistant level jobs have alreadybeen identified.

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Recruitment, Selection, andTraining

Recruitment for entry-level jobsin new careers programs must reachand convince candidates of the valueof the programs to them. Therelatively passive, conventionalrecruiting methods of advertisementand job-posting are not enough toovercome suspicion and apathy ofmany poor people. But even the bestrecruitment techniques will fail ifthe programs promise promotions,training, or other benefits that arenot really available.

Selection criteria for participantsshould be based on capabilitiesactually needed on the job and noton arbitrary or external credentials.Only then can the rigid reliance onschooling, job seniority, and tests ofquestionable applicability be over-come. An alternative to traditionalselection procedures, for example,could be a group-screening panelmade up of both professionals andsubprofessionals.

Recruiting

In Change, Inc., a neighborhoodcommunity action centersponsored by United PlanningOrganization in the heart of one ofWashington, D.C.'s slum sections,recruiters go out into the streets,talk to passersby about the need forsubprofessional workers, and tellthem where to apply. They alsoplace newspaper advertisements,ask ministers to makeannouncements from pulpits, givetalks in schools and to variousgatherings, and in other waysactively attempt to reach as manypeople as possible with informationabout job openings. Here, as inother such campaigns, the efforthas worked.

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Released-Time Training

In a community mental healthcenter sponsored by HowardUniversity and the D.C. Departmentof Public Healtti in Washington,D.C., one subprofessional programconcentrated on educating andtraining 28 inner-city high schoolstudents for employment as teacheraides and health aides. They spenthalf their time in school and half onthe jobs, and their academicprogram was integrated with theirwork experience.

Training, education, and on-the-job supervision should allow forcontinuous development. Thesethree elements must be appropriateto the work, accessible to theworkers, and open to combinationsof work and study. Although manyof these entry-workers will requireremedial education, training shouldbegin with those basic skills neededon the job to allow the new careerstrainee to become a productiveemployee quickly. Later, as theindividual's role expands, trainingand education can expandaccordingly. On-the-job supervisionshould help the trainee capitalize onthe possibilities for advancement bystrengthening his self-image andmotivation. Without these elements,workers may do poor work andprograms may experience highturnover.

Released-Time Training:A Vital Need

It is not practicable for the poorto undertake the costly, full-timeeducation and training commonlyrequired for career advancement.For example, the Negro or Spanish-speaking working mother without ahigh school diploma needsoccupational training but her familyresponsibilities and low incomemake it virtually impossible for herto get the education she needs.

Released-time training is generallyused to upgrade professionals inhuman service fields. If an

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administrator can give professionalstime off with pay to further theireducation or training, he can do thesame for subprofessionals. Released-time training for subprofessionalscan help remove those barrierswhich keep them in low-level,dead-end jobs. Such opportunity forthe subprofessional has not beenprovided extensively in the past andthe means for accomplishing it arenot yet firmly established. Moreover,to avoid creating frictions amongworkers, workable criteria need tobe devised for determining whichemployees are to have theopportunities for released-timetraining.

Despite these difficulties, suchtraining holds great promise forpreparing workers for advancementin subprofessional jobs so vital tothe improvement of human services.

Overcoming ResistanceJust as vital as recruitment,

selection, and training is the matterof overcoming resistance. This maytake the form of regulations thatprevent innovation, the oppositionof special interest groups, or theinertia characteristic of bureaucrats.Much of this resistance, however,arises from a failure to understandthe extent and urgency of serviceand manpower needs and thepotential of new careers for meetingthem. Effective communications cango a long way toward overcomingsuch resistance.

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Some steps have already beentaken. Groups of subprofessionalsorganized at both the local andnational level have urged adminis-trators to adhere to the essentialelements of new careers programsas a means of meeting needs fortrained manpower. At a number ofconferences and workshops, effortshave been made to encourageleaders of professional associations,unions, and regulatory groups tomake their members aware of thepotential contribution of newcareers programs. New alliances ofhuman service personnel canprovide similar support.

Organizations already engaged inthis effort include: American PublicHealth Association, NationalAssociation of Social Workers,National Education Association,American Medical Association,American Federation of State,County, and Municipal Employees,and the American Federation ofTeachers.

Several centers have been set upto foster the objectives of newcareers and to provide informationand technical assistance in the designand development of new careersprograms: New Careers Develop-ment Center and TrainingLaboratory, New York University;University Research Corporation,Washington, D.C.; Social Develop-ment Corporation, San Francisco,Calif. and Washington, D.C.; and

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New Careers DevelopmentOrganization, Oakland, Calif.

Budgeting and PlanningTo be successful, a new careers

program must be an integral part ofan agency's personnel planning andbudgeting activities. Funds forupgrading must be budgeted whenthe candidate is at the entry levelso that they will be available whenneeded. If the program is intendedfor use in a merit system, changesmay be necessary in hiringprocedures, examination techniques,job classifications, and wage scales.If subprofessionals are hired beforesuch changes in the merit systemtake place, they should be informedabout the uncertainties they face.

Any new program should includesystematic data gathering andevaluation as a basis for subsequentimprovements. Administratorsshould share their experiences withthose in other fields to determinepromising alternatives and to checkagainst personal bias. Research andtechnical assistance should be madeavailable to those responsible forplanning and operating new careersprograms.

Program planning and designmust also take into account thedistinct needs within each service,such as the health service's interestin attracting more men to patientcare occupations, and education'sreservations about using sub-professionals.

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Education'sUnique Role

Hundreds of thousands of sub-professionals are currently employedin the human and public servicessome in new careers-type programs.Unlike other services, however, therole of education in developing suchprograms is not limited to mereemployment of subprofessionals.Schools are also expected to supplytrained subprofessionals for all thehuman service occupations wherethere are shortages of professionaland other personnel. This is in linewith vocational education's tradi-tional role in providing trainingwhich prepares students for currentand anticipated employmentopportunities.

The training of workers in thehuman and public services meansnew and expanding responsibilitiesfor vocational education. Preparingworkers for the new careers jobmodel can be a most effective testingground for these new concepts,roles, and responsibilities. Inresponse to changing manpowerrequirements in agriculture, science,and engineering, the schools havedeveloped new programs that havebenefited both their students and thenational economy. What is needednow is a comparable effort in thehuman and public service fields.Ideally, students need an introduc-tion to occupational opportunities

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in these service fields beginning inelementary school with actual skilltraining available later to bothvocational and academic students.

Schools also play a major role in

influencing the occupational choicesof their students. If students develop

an awareness of society's humanservice needs and opportunitieswhile in school, the supply ofservice-oriented youth leaving theschools could meet the increasingdemand for subprofessionalpersonnel in all the human services,including education. And, ifacademic as well as vocationalstudents were exposed to thischoice, the schools could alsoimprove the supply of candidatesfor professional training which astudent could seek either immedi-ately after graduation or after atrial period of experience as asubprofessional. Manpower pro-grams, like the Neighborhood YouthCorps, the Job Corps, ManpowerDcvelopment and Training, andothers, can assist the schools in thisrole with special training programsfor out-of-school youth and adults.

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The Challenge andthe Promise

Administrators are the key tosolving the problems detailed in thisdoriment. Government bodies,professional associations, unions,and community groups may providean environment favorable to change,but it is management's responsibility,as employer and as public servant,first to determine the service needswhich must be met and then toimplement the manpower changesrequired to satisfy those needs. Theconstruction of an intricate complexof career advancement opportunitiesis a major undertaking that taxesthe already overburdened schedulesof those in a position to plan andbring about significant change. Eachadministrator should considercarefully whether it is worth theeffort. Many leading officials in thehuman services have concluded thatthe creation of new careers roles isnot only worthwhile, but inevitable.

This conclusion seems warranted.Today, all human services aretroubled by a lack of effectivenessthat is the result, in great measure,of shortcomings in organizationalstructures and in numbers andquality of personnel. Theseproblems are not likely to beovercome merely by an expansionof current practices. New methodsmust be found if the required levelsof quality and quantity of service

are to be reached. The new careersapproach is one of those methods,if not the major one.

The new careerist, as part of the"establishment," can also helpreorient human service agenciesaway from their traditional, narrowservice objectives such as providingjob training, welfare payments, orhealth services. Such traditionalefforts, which are commendablebut focus merely on the symptomsof our troubled society, must beintegrated into a coordinated andcomprehensive attack on discrim-ination, lack of economic andeducational opportunities, and otherconditions which are the root causesof our major social ills.

Once an administrator hasdecided to use subprofessionals, hemust discard the established patternof viewing his agency's servicedelivery system as merely the sumof its parts. He may find areaswhere no service is being deliveredat all, and it is here that some ofthe most promising roles forsubprofessionals will emerge. Thebest use of the subprofessional isbased on a clear evaluation of hisrole from the point of view of thepatient, client, or student needingservice. The major concern shouldnot be to provide employment forsubprofessionals, but to train themto perform important functions,thereby achieving better manpowerutilization and improving total

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service. The design, creation, andsmooth operation of meaningfulsubprofessional programs in a newcareers structure is an undertakingstill in its infancy. It is, however,one of the most urgent tasks of ourtime and vocational educators canplay a major role in this effort.

*U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE; 1970 0-387.898

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he Vareer Opportunities Branch,National (venter for Educational Rese'archand Deelopment. U.S. Office ofEducation, supports "new careers"research in human and public servicefields which will contribute to thedevelopment of innovative and exemplarysecondary and postsecondary vocationaleducation programs. For furtherinformation write:

Director, Career Opportunities BranchNational Center for Educational Researchand Developmentt'.S. Office of Education400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 3036Washington, D.C. 20202

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