Bridging Career and Technical Education (CTE) to Human Resource Development (HRD): Integrative and Analytical Comparison of Competencies between CTE and HRD Professions

For decades Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Human Resource Development (HRD) have coexisted within the same university academic departments. However, the relevance or proximity between CTE and HRD has continued to be questioned. Given that students enroll in workforce education programs to develop competencies to be successful workforce educators/trainers and that many higher education workforce education programs adopt competency-based education models, our study seeks to find the reason for the coexistence of CTE and HRD in the same university departments by examining the commonalities in competencies between CTE teachers and HRD professionals. An integrative literature review is primarily used for providing a rational framework through critical comparison, synthesizing, and conceptual reasoning. The research findings are presented, followed by practical and theoretical implications, limitations, and future research suggestions. The study found that almost identical competencies are required for both CTE and HRD professionals in terms of basic core competencies, areas of expertise, and roles of strategic partners in each context - school versus business settings.