An Introduction to Career Education. A Policy Paper of the U.S. Office of Education.

The U. S. Office of Education's (OE) first comprehensive conceptual statement describing its interpretation of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare policy on career education is presented in this booklet, the official version of an earlier draft. Topics discussed include: Conditions Calling for Educational Reform; Answering the Call for Educational Reform: The Rationale of Career Education; A Generic Definition of Career Education; Basic Concept Assumptions of Career Education; Programmatic Assumptions of Career Education; Career Education Tasks: Initial Implementation; Learner Outcomes for Career Education; and Basic Educational Changes Championed by Career Education. The discussion concludes that, when career education concepts have been completely integrated into the total fabric of all American education, the result should be abandonment of the term "career education" and adoption of some other major direction for educational change. The Appendix (Explanatory and Interpretive Statement), covering half of the document, illustrates what the consensus of career education leaders is about the position of career education as stated in the OE draft document. (The methodology for gathering consensus information is also described.) The table included in the appendix serves as an indicator of the degree of consensus existing among career education leaders from three different settings. (TA)