Marketing Education

Marketing education is a program designed to prepare secondary and postsecondary students to conduct the critical business functions associated with directing the flow of products and services from the producer to the consumer. A fundamental understanding of the marketing concept and basic marketing skills are essential not only to students entering the field of marketing but for everyone entering the workforce. Marketing education courses provide students with knowledge and skills that are highly transferable and will last a lifetime.

The discipline of marketing is built upon three areas of interdisciplinary content. These foundations of economics, human resource skills and marketing concepts are necessary to understand and apply the nine functions of marketing. Students study and apply the marketing functions that include:

• Distribution
• Financing
• Marketing-information management
• Product planning
• Promotion
• Purchasing
• Risk management
• Selling

Course work in the marketing education curriculum is expanded to include application and integration of technology, higher-order thinking skills, problem solving and core academic competencies.

Students also have opportunities to develop leadership, social, civic, and career skills in marketing through their participation in DECA, an association of marketing students. DECA provides well-planned activities that can be integrated into the curriculum and projects that promote occupational competence.

Levels of Education in Marketing

Most of the students currently being served by marketing education are at the secondary level. While some states and local school districts do operate courses/classes at the middle school level, most of the students are being served at high school level. It is estimated that between 5,000-6,000 marketing programs are in place at the secondary level of instruction.

Marketing programs are also in place at the postsecondary level. They may be called mid-management, marketing and management, or just marketing. These programs are in place at many of the community colleges and two-year institutions around the United States.

Marketing programs at the college and university level most often are taught through colleges of business. Some, however, are offered through colleges of education and actually prepare people to become marketing education teachers.