Originally published as "Apprenticeships: Their Role in Economies and Societies Across the Globe", Education + Training Volume 47 Number 4/5, 2005
ISBN: 1 84544 159 1
Guest edited by: Erica Smith, Charles Sturt University, Australia. & Vikki Smith, Knowledge Management Specialist, The Audit Commission.
The combination of on-job and off-job learning involved in apprenticeships has been a significant theme in employment and training for centuries.
Learning through work-based pathways for young people has traditionally been an ‘alternative’ to mainstream routes through school and college/university. However, significant changes in recent years remain relatively unexplored and under-researched. Drawing on contributions from a range of countries, this special issue on apprenticeships explores some of the challenges that the apprenticeship system faces in the countries represented as their economies and societies evolve, and the measures that are being taken to address these challenges.
The papers address, for example, the dual goal of apprenticeship of providing employment and training for young people as they enter the full-time workforce, the business benefits of apprenticeships, and equal opportunities and gender segregation.
Contents:
Shall I train your apprentice?: An empirical investigation of outsourcing of apprenticeship training in Switzerland
The observations reported in this article suggest that training in a training centre is a viable alternative to the usual in-house apprenticeship system where the apprentice is trained within the company. However, training centres will never be an ideal solution for all occupations or for every company.
Building Pathways: apprenticeships as a route to higher education
This paper aims to present apprentices’ perceptions of their opportunities for progressing to higher education. Data gained through semi-structured interviews with apprentices is placed in the context of the current policy agenda to widen participation in higher education and to increase the skills levels of those in employment.
Addressing gender segregation in apprenticeships in England
This paper aims to report findings from a UK study funded by the Equal Opportunities Commission to explore gender segregation in apprenticeships in five strongly segregated sectors: construction, plumbing, engineering, information technology (all strongly male-dominated), and child care (female-dominated).
The gendered nature of apprenticeship: Employers’ and young people's perspectives
Gender segregation has been a persistent feature of apprenticeship programmes in countries around the world. In the UK, the Modern Apprenticeship was launched ten years ago as the government's flagship initiative for training new entrants in a range of occupational sectors.
Apprenticeships in Germany: modernising the Dual System
The paper finds that Germany, with its long-standing tradition of dual apprenticeships and the reputation of maintaining its practices rather than changing them, has joined the vocational education and training reform agenda. It also finds that reforms seem inevitable in the face of a partial failure of the traditional mechanisms operating within the existing apprenticeship system.
The National Directorate of Employment's Open Apprenticeship Scheme in Nigeria: New wine in old wineskins?
This paper aims to review the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme and how it has fulfilled its mandate of promoting skill acquisition and youth employment in Nigeria in the 17 years since the inception of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
Registered apprenticeship training in the US construction industry
This paper aims to compare the performance of building trades apprenticeship programs in the USA, sponsored jointly by employers and unions, with those sponsored unilaterally by employers. It reviews enrolment and graduation rates, including participation of women and minorities. The article also looks behind the numbers to examine the operation of apprenticeship.
Exploring the notion of retention in apprenticeship
This paper addresses the often neglected process of retention and offers some guidance in the design of interventions to promote retention in apprenticeships.
The business benefits of apprenticeships: the English employers’ perspective
The case studies included here provide compelling evidence that apprenticeships deliver strong business benefits such as increased productivity and staff retention, reduced costs and a more diverse workforce. Other benefits include increased profits, higher quality of work, and career progression.
About Education + Training
Are we witnessing a fundamental shift in the way we view institutional learning, away from education and towards training? Without a clear conceptual distinction between education and training are we in danger of losing something of importance?
The growing understanding of the critical relationship between what is taught in schools, colleges and universities and how what is learnt there prepares the individual for the training received in industry and for a career involving lifelong learning, provides the focus of this major journal.
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