ABSTRACT
A greater focus on providing high quality career training programs could help address high levels of youth unemployment, inequitable access to well-paying jobs, under developed talent within the youth population, and labor shortages across numerous industries worldwide (Symonds, Schwartz, & Ferguson, 2011; Lerman, 2012). The issue of youth and graduate employability has become a significant issue for postsecondary education providers worldwide. Fourteen percent of young people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-nine in OECD countries are neither employed, nor in education or training (OECD, 2018). The focus of this article is on the learning needs of young people that pursue postsecondary education outside of traditional two- and four-year colleges and universities, through career training programs such as industry recognized certificate programs and pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. This chapter considers how to apply the Universal Design for Learning principles and guidelines to postsecondary education in the form of career training programs. The chapter first addresses the need for high quality program design in career training programs, especially ones that enroll youth who have not been successful with traditional “one size fits all” approaches to education. Second, given that UDL was originally conceived to support inclusion of learners with disabilities in the traditional K-12 school model, the chapter considers how the four components of a curriculum in UDL – goals, methods, materials and assessments – might be reframed within career training programs.
