Expansive learning through high school apprenticeship: opportunities and limits

Abstract

This paper examines a high school apprenticeship program with a focus on the opportunities for 'expansive' learning within three different contexts: schools, the training centre and worksites. The authors assume that while young people differ in the degree to which they engage in learning within different sites, the institutional arrangements and features of different learning environments significantly influence their experiences and the quality of their apprenticeships. The authors' analysis of interviews with students and instructors involved in a carpentry program suggests that these sites exhibit several features associated with expansive approaches to workforce development. However, restrictions on learning occurred in schools partly because of the academic/vocational divide in curriculum. In the learning centre, the failure to address tensions rooted in power relations in the workplace limited students' learning. Similarly, students were confronted with the need to make trade-offs in the workplace that restricted their learning. The authors argue that taking steps to address these issues would enhance workplace practices and learning environments for apprentices.

The completion behaviour of registered apprentices in Canada: who continues, who quits, and who completes programs?

“…These results are also supportive of the qualitative evidence of Taylor and Watt-Malcolm (2007). A variety of job-related characteristics are also included in Table 4.…”

Tensions in the Canadian Apprenticeship Sector: Rethinking Bourdieu's Analysis of Habitus, Field, and Capital

“…A primary concern in the compulsory-versus-voluntary-trade debate is the apparent lack of commitment from employers, especially those associated with voluntary trades, to promote apprenticeship training. If apprentices are indentured in a voluntary trade, there is a marked reduction in apprenticeship completions (Taylor & Watt-Malcolm, 2007). Underlying the compulsory-versus-voluntary classification issue is the move to split trades, and it is gaining momentum.…”

Developing the future workforce through apprenticeships : a case study of an industry-education partnership.

“…Furthermore, the skills and knowledge that apprentices learned during their training became lifelong skills which they could draw upon rather than abstract academic theory which could be easily forgotten (Hamilton, 1990;Halpern, 2009;Lerman, 2008;Taylor & Watt-Malcolm (2007). Taylor and Watt-Malcolm (2007) reported that in a study of apprenticeship programs in Canada, students believed that the support and resources available to them were helpful in their development. Furthermore, the dynamics of the workplace exposed students to everyday work life and helped them to understand issues such as organizational culture, power relations at work and discrimination.…”

“…Work based learning encompasses an array of work experiences at the workplace that ranges from job shadowing for a few hours or days, internships and school-based simulated learning to youth apprenticeships that can last for more than a year and are seen as more rigorous (Alfeld et al, 2013;Hamilton & Hamilton, 1997;Stone & Lewis, 2012). Work based learning serves several purposes including engaging and motivating students by linking academic work to practical real world experiences, developing workplace skills and competencies, increasing achievement and high school completion rates, enabling students to explore career options, meeting employer needs in the labor market and transitioning students into adulthood, career or higher education (Bailey, Hughes & Moore, 2004;Darche et al, 2009;Hamilton & Hamilton, 1997;Halpern, 2009;OECD, 2010;Stone & Lewis, 2012;Taylor & Watt-Malcolm, 2007). As students engage in WBL, they develop cognitive skills by learning through engagement with ideas and resources, thereby reinforcing academic instruction.…”

“…For this reason, Symonds, Schwarz and Ferguson (2011) contended that identifying alternative pathways is essential to preparing students as the traditional, academic, classroom-based approach is not suitable for the majority of American youth as it often causes such students to disengage from learning and graduate from school without the necessary skills to succeed in careers or higher education. In that regard, when students are well prepared for careers or education, high levels of unemployment are reduced, students are given a sense of purpose and direction, and the time spent floundering after high school is reduced (Hamilton, 1990;Stone & Mortimer, 1998;Taylor & Watt-Malcolm, 2007). Moreover, focusing on college and career readiness means that all students at the high school level can be engaged in relevant learning experiences that meet their needs and learning styles and, ultimately, the needs of the labor market (Stone & Lewis, 2012).…”