Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulated occupation. Most of their training is done while working for an experienced employer who helps the apprentices learn their trade or profession, in exchange for their continued labor for an agreed period after they have achieved measurable competencies.
Apprenticeship lengths vary significantly across sectors, professions, roles and cultures. In some cases, people who successfully complete an apprenticeship can reach the "journeyman" or professional certification level of competence. In other cases, they can be offered a permanent job at the company that provided the placement. Although the formal boundaries and terminology of the apprentice/journeyman/master system often do not extend outside guilds and trade unions, the concept of on-the-job training leading to competence over a period of years is found in any field of skilled labor.
Terminology
There is no global consensus on a single term for apprenticeship. Depending on the culture, country and sector, the same or similar definitions are used to describe the terms apprenticeship, internship, and trainee-ship. The latter two terms may be preferred in the health sector. One example is internships in medicine for physicians and trainee-ships for nurses – and western countries. Apprenticeship is the preferred term of the European Commission and the one selected for use by the European Center for the Development of Vocational Training, which has developed many studies on the subject. Some non-European countries adapt European apprenticeship practices.History
Apprenticeship existed in the classical world, and early contracts survive on papyrii from Egypt in 18 B.C. The system of apprenticeship is again visible in Europe from the twelfth century, when apprenticeship contracts survive in Genoa. In the Late Middle Ages, apprenticeship in some parts of Europe came to be supervised by craft guilds and town governments. A master craftsman was entitled to employ young people as an inexpensive form of labour in exchange for providing food, lodging and formal training in the craft. Most apprentices were males, but female apprentices were found in crafts such as seamstress, tailor, cordwainer, baker and stationer. Apprentices usually began at ten to fifteen years of age, and would live in the master craftsman's household. The contract between the craftsman, the apprentice and, generally, the apprentice's parents would often be governed by an indenture. Most apprentices aspired to becoming master craftsmen themselves on completion of their contract, but some would spend time as a journeyman and a significant proportion would never acquire their own workshop. In Coventry those completing seven-year apprenticeships with stuff merchants were entitled to become freemen of the city.Apprenticeship was adopted into military of the West African kingdom of Dahomey. Soldiers in the army were recruited as young as seven or eight years old, as they initially served as shield carriers for regular soldiers. After years of apprenticeship and military experience, the recruits were allowed to join the army as regular soldiers. With a combination of lifelong military experience and monetary incentives, a cohesive and well-disciplined military emerged in Dahomey.
Types
Apprenticeships can be divided into two main categories: independent and cooperative.Independent apprenticeships are those organized and managed by employers, without any involvement from educational institutions. They happen dissociated from any educational curricula, which means that, usually, the apprentices are not involved in any educational programme at the same time but, even if they are, there is no relation between the undergoing studies and the apprenticeship.
Cooperative apprenticeships are those organized and managed in cooperation between educational institutions and employers. They vary in terms of governance, some being more employer lead and others more educational institution lead, but they are always associated with a curriculum and are designed as a mean for students to put theory in practice and master knowledge in a way that empowers them with professional autonomy. Their main characteristics could be summarized into the following:
| Institution and Employer shared Governance | Institution led Governance | Institution led Governance | Employer led Governance | |
| Education program | ISCED 6 | ISCED 6 | ISCED 6 | ISCED 5–6 |
| Type of program | Institution- & work-integrated | Higher Vocational Education, Professional Higher Education, Higher Education | Higher Vocational Education, Professional Higher Education, Higher Education | Higher Vocational Education, Professional Higher Education |
| Average length | 3–4 years | 2–3 years | 2–3 years | 1 year |
| Balance theory/practice | Alternating theory & practice | Short placements from few weeks to 6 months | Placements from 30 to 40% of the curriculum | Employed for a minimum of 30 hours per week, 20% of learning hours must be off-the-job |
| Location of learning | Institution- & work-integrated | Institution- & work-integrated | Institution- & work-integrated | Work-based |
| Contract | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Apprenticeship systems worldwide
Australia
Australian apprenticeships encompass all apprenticeships and traineeships covering all industry sectors in Australia and are used to achieve both entry-level training and mid-career upskilling objectives. There were 475,000 Australian apprentices in-training as at 31 March 2012, an increase of 2.4% from the previous year. Australian government employer and employee incentives may be applicable, while state and territory governments may provide public funding support for the training element of the initiative. Australian apprenticeships combine time at work with formal training and can be full-time, part-time or school-based.Australian apprentice and traineeship services promote retention, so the trainees are matched with employers using aptitude tests, tips, and information guides. Information and resources on potential apprenticeship and traineeship occupations are available in over sixty industries.
The distinction between the terms "apprentices" and "trainees" lies mainly around traditional trades and the time it takes to gain a qualification. The Australian government uses Australian apprenticeship centres to administer and facilitate Australian apprenticeships so that funding can be disseminated to eligible businesses, apprentices and trainees, supporting the whole process as it underpins the future skills of Australian industry. Australia also has a safety net in place for businesses and Australian apprentices with its group Training scheme. This is where businesses that are not able to employ the Australian apprentice for the full period until they qualify, are able to lease or hire the Australian apprentice from a group training organisation. It is a safety net, because the group training organisation is the employer and provides continuity of employment and training for the Australian apprentices.
In addition, group training organisations have other benefits such as additional support for both the Host employer and the trainee/apprentice through an industry consultant who visits regularly to make sure that the trainee/apprentice are fulfilling their work and training obligations with their host employer. There is the additional benefit of the trainee/apprentice being employed by the GTO reducing the payroll/superannuation and other legislative requirements on the host employer who pays as invoiced per agreement.
Austria
Apprenticeship training in Austria is organized in a school system with long-term training parts. It is thus possible to get the Matura needed to enter university. WIFI company-based training of apprentices is complemented by compulsory attendance of a part-time vocational school for apprentices. It lasts two to four years – the duration varies among the 250 legally recognized apprenticeship trades.About 40 percent of all Austrian teenagers enter apprenticeship training upon completion of compulsory education. This number has been stable since the 1950s.
The five most popular trades are: Retail Salesperson, clerk, car mechanic, hairdresser, cook. There are many smaller trades with small numbers of apprentices, e.g. "EDV-Systemtechniker", which is completed by fewer than 100 people a year.
The Apprenticeship Leave Certificate provides the apprentice with access to two different vocational careers. On the one hand, it is a prerequisite for the admission to the Master Craftsman Exam and for qualification tests, and on the other hand it gives access to higher education via the TVE-Exam or the Higher Education Entrance Exam which are prerequisites for taking up studies at colleges, universities, "Fachhochschulen", post-secondary courses and post-secondary colleges.
The person responsible for overseeing the training inside the company is called "Lehrherr" or "Ausbilder". An Ausbilder must prove that he has the professional qualifications needed to educate another person, has no criminal record and is an otherwise-respectable person. The law states that "the person wanting to educate a young apprentice must prove that he has an ethical way of living and the civic qualities of a good citizen".
Canada
In Canada, apprenticeships tend to be formalized for craft trades and technician level qualifications. At the completion of the provincial exam, they may write the Provincial Standard exam. British Columbia is one province that uses these exams as the provincial exam. This means a qualification for the province will satisfy the whole country. The inter-provincial exam questions are agreed upon by all provinces of the time. At the time there were only four provinces, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Upper Canada, and Lower Canada.In Canada, each province has its own apprenticeship program, which may be the only route into jobs within compulsory trades.
Organisations such as the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship and Employment and Social Development Canada help to oversee the programmes.