An Exploratory Study of Career and Technical Education Teacher Empowerment: Implications for School Leaders

This study examines the relationship between teacher empowerment and important demographic variables as they pertain to secondary career and technical education teachers. In light of the growing number of educational reform initiatives that emphasize greater teacher capacity and involvement through shared governance models, teacher empowerment has emerged as an important component of many school improvement efforts ( Pounder, 1998 ; Short, 1998 ).

The two-fold purpose of the study was to (a) assess the level of empowerment among career and technical education teachers in one Midwestern state and (b) to determine if differences existed in the level of empowerment based on selected career and technical education teacher and school characteristics. Selected characteristics included teaching area, school location, gender, and level of education. While statistically significant differences were found in empowerment among career and technical education teachers based on selected characteristics, the proportion of variance explained was so small as to make the differences to be of little practical significance.