Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to provide a method for evaluating the effect, impact or role that (as perceived by automotive, diesel, automotive collision faculty and administrators) the nationally recognized industry training standards developed by Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) have on the currency of a given program or program's curriculum, thus determining what role the NATEF standards have in keeping automotive programs up-to-date with current and emerging technology. Automotive-related programs were the main focus; however, as applicable, medium-duty/heavy-duty truck (diesel) and automotive collision programs were incorporated, due to the significantly higher number of post-secondary automotive programs in contrast to the diesel and auto collision-related programs across the nation.
The design of this research utilized a qualitative multi-case study methodology. Three community colleges were selected using purposeful sampling.
The guiding questions which framed this research study were: (1) What do community and technical college automotive programs use as a basis for their automotive curriculum? (2) If community and technical college automotive programs use the NATEF standards as the basis for their curriculum, how much of their curriculum exceeds the NATEF standards? (3) How are recent and anticipated advances in automotive technology incorporated into the curriculum? (4) Are the NATEF standards perceived as being sufficient to maintain program quality, relevance, and currency with respect to technological advances?
After reviewing the data, eight common themes were identified. Recommendations to both colleges in this study and to NATEF addressing the identified themes were presented based on review of current NATEF procedures and through the evaluation of other accreditation processes.
