Students are increasingly interested in focusing on digital technology, information technology, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity in their career and technical education courses, according to a survey of educators whose jobs include some CTE work.
In fact, the survey found that nearly a third—31%—of CTE educators at schools that don’t already have a career pathway in digital technology, information technology, and cybersecurity expect that one will be introduced in the next five years. That’s a higher percentage than any other CTE subject area.
By contrast, nearly 20% of CTE educators expect their districts will add a construction pathway, which could include architecture and civil engineering, in the next five years.
The same percentage of educators predict that their districts will establish an advanced manufacturing pathway, which could include an engineering focus. And about 1 in 6 CTE educators—17%—envision a potential education career pathway for students interested in becoming teachers.
Careers that involve deep technical or computer science expertise—including data scientist, computer and information research scientist, and information security analyst—were among the fastest growing jobs in 2025, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor.
That’s likely a big part of the reason CTE educators see big growth potential for coursework and on-the-job experiences in technology, said Pat Yongpradit, the chief academic officer for Code.org and a leader of TeachAI, an initiative to support schools in using and teaching about AI.
The “CTE world is all about preparing kids for immediate jobs, not an amorphous future,” Yongpradit said. “They’re going to be on top of [career] trends a lot faster than the non- vocational academic tracks in the [same] school system.”
Jaycie Homer, a middle school CTE teacher in New Mexico, believes that AI career pathways are destined to grow in popularity. AI skills are “transferable across multiple sectors,” she said.
“AI is being used in the health care industry, in the construction industry, in the oil and gas industry,” Homer said. Students “could work in almost any sector and be able to reference those skills.”
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center’s work.
