A project sought to identify the traits and pedagogical expertise needed by vocational educators who work in business and industry and to determine whether current vocational teacher education is appropriate preparation for them. The following subjects were asked to describe on a mailed questionnaire the excellent vocational instructors who work for them: 500 supervisors in secondary schools (250 responses), 500 supervisors in postsecondary schools (266 responses), and 500 supervisors in business and industry (204 responses). Ratings were based on Spectrum I and the Adult Personality Inventory, involving the following variables: extroverted, adjusted, tough minded, independent, creative, enterprising, caring, adaptive, withdrawn, submissive, uncaring, nonconforming, sociable, assertive, practical, aesthetic, social, competitive, structured, accomplishment, recognition, power, and affiliation. Results indicated that excellent instructors in all three settings were more similar than dissimilar but that they were rated significantly different from the general population on most of the variables. In another part of the study, vocational teacher educators from 21 institutions (75 usable responses) were asked to rate how important 25 competencies are to their graduates and the extent to which each competency, identified by the American Society for Training and Development as a model for good human resource development practice, is covered in coursework. Twenty competencies were rated at least somewhat important, but only seven competencies were said to be covered at least adequately. (86 references) (CML)