A dozen students from the South East Cornerstone Public School Division schools took a unique yet practical direction in their educational pursuit this past academic year, landing a full course credit while gaining valuable job experiences.
Dan Hardern, the career services consultant for Cornerstone, left an administration job in the Manitoba education system to jump aboard a pilot program with the SECPSD and after his first full year on the job, he's happy with the decision he made and the results achieved to date.
"We have more students interested in the apprenticeship credit program than we have businesses in which we can place them," said Hardern, who was already looking forward to next year's lineup.
The apprenticeship program is no easy way out for young people seeking a high school credit. It requires interest in a selected trade and a commitment to the job. The job comes with a paycheque, a big additional bonus.
"What other high school class can you take that makes you money while teaching you a skill?" asked Hardern with a chuckle.
The program in the Cornerstone division actually got going in 2009, but really took wing this past year. Six students from the Estevan Comprehensive School got engaged in it as did two from Carnduff while solo entrants were introduced to work site apprenticeship programs in Oxbow, Lampman, Moosomin and Midale.
Students, especially those who might be a credit short of a Grade 12 diploma, see this program as a golden opportunity to achieve a couple of goals, Hardern said.
"They get their diploma, and they're on the job, earning money."
The high school apprenticeship program carries some serious obligations though. The student has to be mentored by a qualified and certified journeyman who will also be engaged, to some extent, on skill evaluation.
In the first 25 hours on the job, the student is monitored twice, followed by a short evaluation session. There is another evaluation in the second phase, which is another 25 hours of on-the-job participation. A full credit is achievable with 100 hours of monitored and evaluated on-site work. A student, beginning in Grade 11, can earn up to four credits toward a Grade 12 diploma, two in Grade 11 and two more in Grade 12.
The evaluation is a joint effort between the journeyman/job site supervisor and the co-operating teacher from the school. In smaller schools, the principal is often the co-operating teacher. In the larger centres, it might be a career counsellor.
"I know of at least three students who have taken all four credits, and there will be more by the time we've finished evaluating," said Hardern, commenting on the growing appeal.
Once they start, these students usually stick with the trades of their choice. They may have already received introductions to them in vocational classes in Grades 9 and 10.
"They won't take on 400 hours in a trade if they don't like it," Hardern said. However, if their interests switch slightly from one trade to another related trade in the early going, their credit hours can be applied to the second choice.
"There are three partners in this, the school division and the Ministry of Education that lays out the guidelines and the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship Council that certify and validates the instruction, thus the need for a journeyman instructor/monitor," said Hardern. Anyone with a Red Seal journeyman paper from anywhere in Canada is qualified. The apprenticeship program hours logged by the high schoolers may be used toward the journeyman status. With most trades, Hardern said, that usually means 7,800 hours and a defined skill set. But that can vary a bit from one trade to another since there are 50 recognized skilled trades and sub trades in Saskatchewan. Students striving for apprenticeship status in such institutions as SIAST are well aware of the qualifications. They usually take the on-site and classroom switch-off options during their training regimes, in order to gain apprenticeship status.
"Starting in high school, these kids get the training, and they get paid at least the current minimum wage, and what I'm hearing is that while some may start out at the minimum, after the first block or two, they've been bumped up a bit on the wage scales," said Hardern, suggesting that the young students are probably making positive contributions at the work sites shortly after they get involved.
The program is flexible enough so that students can get their apprenticeship hours in after regular school, during an afternoon or perhaps on the weekends and even during the summer vacation. Hours achieved on site with evaluation can be directly applied to a SIAST post-graduate program, thus cutting down the hours they might have to spend in those classrooms. There is a move afoot to get provincial regional colleges into the mix, too, at least for the start-up phases.
Getting to and from the job site is the student's responsibility, and the workplace must conform to all labour laws and since the student is an employee, they are under the employer's insurance and liability plan monitored by Workers' Compensation.
"If this continues to gain favour, I'm sure Cornerstone will increase its presence, but, of course, it requires provincial ministry money to make it go," said Hardern.
Cornerstone has definitely bought into the concept and besides Hardern, they have assigned a full-time transitions co-ordinator, headquartered in Carlyle to help find positions for students who express interest in the program. But, on that note, Hardern said, it's still up to the student to make the original contact and placement proposals to the industry, since it gives them another reality-based skill set and immediately helps them build a communications bond with the potential employer.
"At each presentation I've made at schools, I always get at least five to eight students approaching me who are seeking out more information," said Hardern. "They recognize the job security, good wages and the employers are on board because they get someone who wants to be there, they get a young worker who probably has a place to live, and is looking for stability. The trade unions are also buying in and promoting it because they see how they can help their trades grow in numbers."
Hardern added that trades are growing significantly in terms of sophistication with highly technical and automated devices and computer skills being deployed where grunt labour used to hold the key to success.
"We have simulators coming into our schools, portable devices we can take to the smaller schools to use and demonstrate. Our partners in industry are helping us do that." On that note, the counsellor said chambers of commerce, industry leaders and the Southeast Education Council that includes the regional college, are partners in the outreach aspect of the program.
"The employers are finding out that these kids are making the effort, they're interested. So far they are meeting expectations or exceeding them. We have a 100 per cent success rate so far," said Hardern. "These are people who can become long-term employees and the employers are seeing the value in finding local kids who already have roots in their city or town."
The employers like the fact they're not required to do much, if any, paperwork. The co-operating teacher does that. They just have to participate in an evaluation session. "Even the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship requirements, we do them, too," said Hardern, who states that in Cornerstone he is "the first call a principal or teacher makes if they identify a student who would benefit from the apprenticeship program."
With a family background in various trades that included construction and road building, among other things, and a professional background as a principal, Hardern is enjoying being the liaison between these two worlds that he loves.
In his former high school experience, he helped lead a group of high school students who built RTM homes in Manitoba as part of an education experience that proved very successful.
"I'd like to see this particular program blossom around here. We see the big growth in almost all the industries and I want local young people to gain an advantage. I would love to see all of them continue on the path they've started so they can eventually become master tradesmen and women," Hardern said.
Over the past two years the program had 17 participating businesses. To meet the upcoming demand, the calls are going out, to get a few more onside since the program is definitely growing in popularity with the senior high school students in southeast Sask.
