NATEF turns 25

The National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) marks its 25th year in 2008 and has been quietly celebrating since January. As the year draws to a close, the organization is looking back and noting several milestones, which helped NATEF grow into the most respected organization within the automotive industry offering national educational standards.

The first milestone occurred at the November 1983 ASE Board of Directors Meeting in Fort Lauderdale when John (‘Jack’) Pohanka, the initial NATEF Chair and an ASE Board Member, presented recognition plaques to representatives of the first automobile training programs to become ASE certified.

The automobile programs at these three schools — Sheridan Vocational-Technical Center (Hollywood, Fla.), Tri-County Joint Vocational School (Nelsonville, Ohio), and Northeast Wisconsin Technical Institute (Green Bay, Wisc.) — became pioneers of a new process that measures training programs against nationally recognized education and industry standards. Twenty-five years later, these programs have maintained their certification.

In subsequent years, NATEF developed similar systems for assessing collision repair (1989) and medium/heavy truck training programs (1992) at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Today, the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation is proud to have 2,256 certified programs (1,779 automobile, 364 collision repair & refinish, 108 medium/heavy truck, and 5 automobile/alternate fuels). NATEF has also received a significant number of applications in recent months for initial certification, indicating the on-going popularity of program certification.

“As we celebrate our 25th Anniversary, NATEF is looking forward to an expanding role within the automotive service industry,” says Bill Kersten, NATEF President. “Our recent alliance with AYES and SkillsUSA to develop a standardized end-of-program test for auto, collision and truck secondary and post-secondary school training programs is just one example of how NATEF continues to fulfill its role of improving the educational process and ensure we have the well-trained, entry-level technicians the industry needs today and tomorrow.”