Vocationalizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of adapting general knowledge and skills into practical applications for specific careers involves training individuals for particular occupations
2. This transformation turns broad educational experiences into specialized training focused on preparing for a chosen profession
3. The act of converting general skills and knowledge into specific professional training aims at enhancing employability in designated fields

Etymology: "Vocationalizing" is the present participle of "vocationalize," a verb meaning to make training or education job-specific. The stem "vocational" comes from "vocation," which in English carries the sense of a calling or trade, and the suffix "-ize" turns that adjective into an action: to give something a vocational character. The pattern is a plain one, built from an existing adjective and a common verb-forming ending, so the word's history is largely that of its two parts. The "-ize" ending is the more useful thing to know here. It was borrowed into English through Latin and Greek, where it formed verbs meaning to make or to treat in a certain way, and English has used it freely for centuries to turn nouns and adjectives into verbs. Pairs such as "modern" and "modernize," or "legal" and "legalize," follow the same logic. "Vocationalize" belongs to that family, applied to the world of training for work.

Synonyms: training, educating