A Survey on Coordinator Instructors Involved in Industrial Practices of Students in Vocational Training High Schools Offering Clothing Education in Turkey

As is known the collaboration between schools and industry has stemmed from the need to create human labor which new jobs require. The very first need to create qualified workers is to professionally train individuals in suitable conditions. In Turkey, in the process of vocational schooling, coordinator instructors in co-operational educational programs are given the duty of bridging between schools which they represent and corporations where students have vocational training programs. For this reason, coordinator instructors are the most important chains in programming and administrating coordinator instructor programs. Namely, the success of the program depends largely upon the coordinator instructors. The aim of this study is to determine, in the way of students, corporations, and coordinator instructors, the required capabilities of coordinator instructors involved in the industrial vocational practices of students at vocational high schools giving clothing education in Turkey. For this purpose, data were collected by survey method from 233 students being educated on clothing in 14 vocational high schools which send their senior students for training to corporations in cities like Adana, Ankara, Aydi{dotless}n, Bali{dotless}kesir, İstanbul, İzmir, Sakarya and Tekirda?, 46 coordinator instructors in these high schools, and 58 corporations which students in these schools were sent to. Collected data were statistically analyzed, and research resuls were reached. According to the survey results, it was observed that coordinator instructors visited the corporations once a week, that most of them considered students' demand and complaints all the time, and that they negotiated with department instructors while determining about training programs. © 2009.