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Opportunities and constraints related to vocational education partnerships in Canada

 

Summary (PDF 26 KB) Full Report (PDF 263 KB)

Alison Taylor, University of Alberta
with Bonnie Watt-Malcolm, University of Alberta

Background

Since the 1990s, provincial governments across Canada have become interested in developing and promoting high school apprenticeship programs as a way of facilitating students’ transitions to skilled work and addressing employers’ concerns about labour shortages. Although only two provinces had such programs in 1994, by 2005 most jurisdictions had expanded their school-to-work options (Stone, 2005).

Description

There are school-level challenges to high school programs, such as the lack of qualified technical teachers, decline in vocational education facilities, and low status of “vocational” compared to “academic” programs (cf. Smaller, 2003). Other challenges to effective high school programs are related to the broader issues connected with the apprenticeship system and fluctuating labour markets. As OECD (2000) writers suggest, effective school-work transition programs require a healthy economy, well organized pathways that connect initial education with work and further study, and widespread opportunities to combine workplace experience with education. This report explores some of the broader challenges to effective education and training partnerships.

Findings

Our findings focus on challenges to as well as opportunities for effective partnership. Challenges or constraints include the lack of a coordinated national apprenticeship system with corporatist structures, competition for resources and status amongst potential partners, lack of employer engagement in training, and a lack of clarity regarding the place of high school apprenticeship programs within secondary schools. Opportunities are discussed with reference to two programs that have provided high school students with valuable learning opportunities and useful lessons for partners and policy-makers.

 

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