Generation Jobless discusses the fact that today's graduates are not getting careers in their field of study. They are getting stuck in "dead end" jobs to pay down huge student debt. This poses issues not only on the educational level, but also the social level. This documentary discusses issues with the Canadian model, it also looks at models that are working around the world.
Should educators take on the role take on the role of getting students industry or field experience?
I teach an apprenticeship program. My students go to school, then go work in the field and after 3 years write an inter provincial exam (IP) and become journey persons. A trend that I am seeing is that apprentices are not diversifying within the trade. They get comfortable doing one aspect or even worse do their whole apprenticeship on one project (Port Mann bridge). The IP is experience based, and covers a broad spectrum of the trade, as it should.
I was thinking that there should be not for profit businesses in place that are dedicated to the training of new or young workers. Companies with professionals that are willing to train new workers in industry. Obviously people would be paid including students, but any profits would be cycled back into a fund that supports the system. The system would be a collaborative learning experience, where students will eventually become mentors for newer workers.
The way this model would differ from the existing apprenticeship model is; When students have spent a certain amount of time on one aspect of the trade they would be moved to another and so on.
For the construction trade this is just a minor adjustment to the apprenticeship model. Would it work in other industries? Accounting, engineering....I believe that the medical field does something similar to this in university hospitals.
I am looking at this purely from and educational point of view. Maybe there would be problems on an economical level. Maybe this model would dilute industry, or take money out of the pockets of others. Who knows?
The problem is that Canada wants to be considered a "skilled work force", but our workers either get comfortable doing the same tasks over and over, or employers think that someone is good at a task so they keep them doing the same thing again and again. It's funny employers want experienced workers, but when they get employees they often pigeon hole them.
Hi Ryan. Robert from 3240. Your blog has a number of resources relating to hybrid education, much like my blog, which you can find at: http://regidlethoughts.blogspot.ca/
ReplyDeleteI guess we're all exploring this topic together. The way you've organized your posts, and your links, is very clear, succinct, and helpful. Great work.
I especially liked your post on Job Ready. It seems to me that employers are the ones who express concerns about there being so few skilled workers, yet they are the ones who are often guilty of providing limited training to their apprentices. If employers were expected to pay for the training of these workers, and not taxpayers, they might be inclined to be more careful in the type of training they provide, given the investment they would be making in their education, generally. Just a few random thoughts that occurred to me.