Vocational education and training - VET

Based on a randomized controlled trial conducted on extremely poor youths in Nepal, we report the impact of a vocational training program that offered long-duration training combined with incentives for trainers tied to trainees’ success. Furthermore, to mimic the practices in the field, a component of the program allowed trainers to select trainees from eligible applicants. For the trainees that were randomly selected, after nine months of program completion, we found no significant effect of the training on the outcomes except for employment prospects. However, we observed some improved outcomes for the trainees selected by trainers. The findings are consistent with the observed pattern
of finding a better outcome when the program implementers non-randomly select the treatment groups. Our investigation thus points out that trainee selection can provide a better outcome of vocational training.

A key new piece of research launched this week by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and City & Guilds has outlined the need to improve the perceived value of apprenticeships if we’re to see a rise in achievement rates.

Launched at the 2023 Annual Apprenticeship Conference in Birmingham on Monday 13 March, “Raising the Standard: Sectoral approaches to raising apprenticeship achievement rates”, has been written by AELP’s Dr Chihiro Kobayashi, and Director of Strategy Paul Warner. It explores the underlying detail behind headline apprenticeship achievement rates and was commissioned following the then Skills Minister’s announcement in June 2022 that apprenticeship achievement rates should reach 67% by 2025 (up from 51.8% in 2020/21).

The interview analysis within the report identifies a variety of sectoral and cross-sectoral issues around apprenticeships. This includes six major cross-sectoral themes driving apprenticeship withdrawals: English and Maths requirements; malfunction of the Baker Clause; trainer retention and recruitment; engagement with employers; challenges with end-point assessment; and job or career changes.

With nearly half of apprentices withdrawing before completing their programme, this is a serious problem which compounds skills shortages in the UK. The full report contains fifteen recommendations outlining how this can be addressed, alongside further reflections on sector-specific issues that came to the authors’ attention. However, almost all of the factors and themes can ultimately be reduced to a single overarching conclusion and recommendation: much more work needs to be done by government, employers and the sector as a whole on raising the perceived benefit and value of apprenticeship study and the apprenticeship outcome.

Identified benefits– such as the increase in skills and productivity, the chance to learn whilst working, the improvements in career prospects – may seem obvious, but despite this the report finds that apprenticeships are still not being widely cited as a accreditation requirement in job adverts. This was even the case in roles advertised within the skills sector itself.

The International Labour Conference closed with the adoption of a new recommendation on quality apprenticeships. Delegates also passed resolutions on a just transition and labour protection, as well as adopting the standards report and the programme and budget, and a resolution on Belarus.

This working paper undertakes a meta study on informal apprenticeship in developing countries. It compares the findings of country-level research conducted by the ILO and others in the past 15 years to shed more light on apprenticeship systems in the informal economy. It discusses the features and practices of informal apprenticeship systems, their responsiveness to rights at work, and the effectiveness of such systems along criteria such as dropouts, training quality, and transitions to employment. The analysis is complemented by a selected number of country case studies that describe and assess the policies and programmes that were introduced during past years to strengthen and upgrade apprenticeship systems in the informal economy. The findings aim to improve understanding of this complex, heterogenous, yet self-sustained training system in the informal economy for evidence-based discussions and policy dialogue between ILO constituents and beyond.

Apprenticeships in Canada offer a unique opportunity to learn practical skills and gain valuable work experience while earning money at the same time.

It may sound like an outdated term, but apprenticeship remains a powerful tool in today’s businesses for building skills, increasing collaboration, and retaining talent.

Postpandemic skill gaps need filling, and formal learning alone won’t do the trick. Scaling the lost art of one-on-one learning can make the difference.

Promoting Careers in the Skilled Trades

One of the biggest shifts in education reform in recent years has been widening acknowledgment that the “college for all” mantra was misguided. Almost everyone now admits that college, as traditionally defined, is not going to be for everyone, and that career and technical programs and trade schools can provide sturdy on-ramps to the middle class.

Abstract:
In this paper, we show the causal influence of the launch of generative AI in the form of ChatGPT on the search behavior of young people for apprenticeship vacancies. There is a strong and long-lasting decline in the intensity of searches for vacancies, which suggests great uncertainty among the affected cohort. Analyses based on the classification of occupations according to tasks, type of cognitive requirements, and the expected risk of automation to date show significant differences in the extent to which specific occupations are affected. Occupations with a high proportion of cognitive tasks, with high demands on language skills, and those whose automation risk had previously been assessed by experts as lower are significantly more affected by the decline. However, no differences can be found with regard to the proportion of routine vs. non-routine tasks.

Study reveals the importance of inclusivity to work-integrated learning experiences and where improvements can be made
Work-integrated learning (WIL) provides many benefits for postsecondary education (PSE) students including improved labour market outcomes for graduates, improved job readiness and the development of self-efficacy and skills. Ensuring that these experiences are inclusive can allow students to realize the full benefits of WIL, but much is still unknown due to a lack of previous research and little federal or provincial direction in this area.

To fill this data gap, HEQCO partnered with Academica to conduct surveys of students, employers and institutional administrators during the 2020-21 school year. The sample included 312 students, 109 employers and 111 administrators. Survey questions covered topics such as the impact of inclusive training opportunities, perceptions regarding who should be responsible for inclusive supports, and gaps in inclusion practices.

This report is the third publication stemming from the survey collaboration with Academica. HEQCO previously published the report Working (and Learning) Online: Improving Remote Work-integrated Learning Experiences for Students and Employers as well as the report Student Identity and Work-integrated Learning (WIL): Exploring Student Experiences of WIL by Demographic which was released with an accompanying blog post.

The findings in this latest report demonstrate that accessibility and inclusion are positively associated with student perceptions of satisfaction with their WIL experience. Students who received inclusion training were more likely to report being satisfied with their WIL experience than those who did not. Further, students who said they felt supported by PSE staff, WIL managers and WIL coworkers were more likely to indicate being “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their WIL experience.

Remote WIL offered a range of benefits to all groups surveyed, particularly flexibility. Students who participated in remote WIL appreciated that they were not limited by travel cost or distance to placements. Employers and administrators noted that remote and hybrid WIL options meant they could recruit from a larger group of students from a wider geographic area, and that technological platforms helped streamline the hiring process.

Students and employers in remote and hybrid WIL reported challenges related to professional development. For students, “remote networking and making connections” was the most significant challenge while employers cited difficulty with communication and connection, particularly related to mentorship and training.

A key goal of WIL is to provide students with meaningful, relevant work experience that facilitates skill development and supports the individual’s transition to the labour market. This is only possible when the WIL is of high quality as specified in Ontario’s guiding principles for experiential learning. To ensure that remote and hybrid WIL experiences help students develop essential skills and competencies, HEQCO offers the following recommendations to employers, institutions and students:

Employers should expand their onboarding activities for WIL students and encourage the development of professional and interpersonal skills through mentorship and/or routine performance check-ins.
Institutions can build upon existing orientation materials to ensure WIL students are prepared to be successful.
Students should work with WIL employers to set learning goals for themselves, monitor progress and take advantage of networking and mentorship opportunities in order to maximize the benefit of their WIL experiences.
The benefits of WIL are shared by all parties — institutions, employers and students — so it is incumbent upon all of them to ensure that the system is best positioned to adapt to changing work environments and serve all students equally, regardless of how they participate.

It is time to rethink how we connect local talent to careers and provide more options for people to access high-quality jobs. In the U.S., apprenticeships have a long history of being limited to skilled trade occupations such as electricians, plumbers, and construction workers. These are relatively high-paying jobs, and they remain important for the success of downtowns, particularly as federal infrastructure funding hits the streets.  

What is an apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships combine long-term, paid, work-based learning opportunities with structured educational curricula to ensure that the learner gains both education and hands-on experience in a profession or occupation. Apprenticeships are most suitable for jobs that require a mix of hands-on experience and conceptual foundations learned in the classroom. They can be an attractive option for learners who prefer learning by doing, who are seeking paid routes into a profession and/or college degree.

Yet there are many other industries and occupations concentrated in downtowns that are struggling to fill openings and retain workers. Finance and insurance, professional and business services, and many government administration jobs could benefit greatly from offering apprenticeship pathways from high schools and community colleges into roles that are currently hard to fill, such as project managers, account managers, cybersecurity technicians, and graphic designers.

Over the next two years, first-year apprentices in eligible Red Seal trades will get the hands-on experience and training they require to progress toward becoming certified in the Red Seal trades as a result of connecting with opportunities at these employers. The organizations that are being funded under the Apprenticeship Service will distribute financial incentives to SMEs, and provide additional supports, such as help navigating the apprenticeship system, onboarding apprentices, and creating welcoming and inclusive workplaces. To help marginalized Canadians, the incentives are doubled for SMEs who hire from equity-deserving groups, such as women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous people and racialized people.  The Government’s investment today will create more than 25,000 new apprenticeship positions across Canada.

Join Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) and the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF-FCA) virtually on Wednesday February 23, 2022, from 1:00pm to 2:30pm (EDT). Learn about the value of designing more inclusive pre-apprenticeship programs to prepare under-represented groups for further training and careers in the skilled trades.

Apprenticeships have traditionally been considered as a means for ensuring the transition of young people from the world of education to the world of work – a passport to a skilled job - and this is still the case. Increasingly, though, they are starting to be seen in some countries as a stepping stone to a broader educational experience on the road to lifelong learning. The webinar aims to present some recent developments, and more specifically measures that are being taken to open up access to further learning / higher education – the introduction of additional examinations, the modification of forms of Dual VET, and the recognition of prior learning. It will examine examples of good practice and successful policy initiatives, and at the same time indicate the different challenges that still remain.