Two studies investigated the extent to which students with serious vocational handicaps could learn work behaviors in technological settings. In Study 1, 12 students learned a number of chemical laboratory tasks. The median amount of training time per task was 2 hours and 37 minutes. In Study 2, pre- and posttraining videotape vignettes of 6 students performing a technical task were presented to a group of 27 respondents. On a social validity questionnaire, they judged the students to be significantly (p < .001) more vocationally competent after training. The characteristics of an effective secondary vocational training program are discussed.
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