Teaching the Trades: Alberta's Career and Technology Studies Bridge to Teacher Certification Program

Transcription

1 Teaching the Trades: Alberta's Career and Technology Studies Bridge to Teacher Certification Program By Jason Purdy The Government of Alberta has implemented a proactive strategy to bring certified tradespeople into secondary schools to teach. The program has a number of benefits, not the least of which is the relevancy of industrial experience that tradespeople can bring to the subject area that they are teaching. From the unique perspective of a tradesperson who has participated in the program and is now teaching at a high school, this article explains some of the benefits to students and addresses some of the challenges that have emerged as a result of teaching apprenticeship-level material in a high school setting. Introduction Alberta has initiated a program that is designed to have certified journeypersons teach career and technology studies (CTS) in high schools. The advantages of having a journeyperson teach shop in high school appear notable. Aside from having years of in-service experience and therefore a strong understanding of the safety requirements of a shop environment, a journeyperson brings with him or her relevancy to the subject that may be lacking in other teachers. The journeyperson believes that what he or she is teaching is important, and can show students the proper and safe way to build real-world products because he or she has made a living doing it for untold years. Journeypersons are also well placed to teach shop at the high school level because they are often similar in mindset to the students who are typically drawn to a shop environment. Many tradespeople are visual and kinesthetic learners, and the ability to relate to likeminded youth can be an asset. Yet another advantage to having a journeyperson teach shop class is that it may allow apprenticeship-level training to take place in high schools. Given these and other benefits, this may be a program of interest to other provinces and territories. 1

2 Enhancing access to high-quality teaching in Alberta high schools In 2010 the Government of Alberta began to implement the Education Sector Workforce Planning Framework for Action. This ongoing five-year plan is designed to provide solutions to emerging demands in the education division workforce of Alberta. The overall goal is to improve the quality of and accessibility to well-trained teachers for Alberta school districts. Step two of this plan for action is to institute a program called the Career and Technology Studies Bridge to Teacher Certification Program. Program participants, who are certified tradespeople, 1 are able to work in the classroom while completing a teacher-preparation program at a postsecondary institution in Alberta. The goal is for the participants to obtain a Bachelor of Education degree. School districts apply to the government for funds, which are then distributed in the form of bursaries, salary or hourly pay 2 to successful candidates while they are attending courses at the University of Alberta. Some of the courses that the U of A requires for the completion of a Bachelor of Education degree have been compressed for this program, and students go to summer school so that a Bridging student has the ability to complete two years (60 semesterhour credits) of university in a year and a half. Upon completion of all the educational course requirements, the candidate is issued a letter of authority to teach in only his or her area of expertise for the school district that had sponsored and contracted him or her. Being recently laid off from a teaching position at a postsecondary institute, this program seemed like a good fit. Under the terms of the agreement, I would be paid a modest salary to go to university and would be required to teach for the issuing school district in my area of expertise for a given amount of time. In recognition of my completed apprenticeship program, I received 30 semester-hour credits towards my degree. As such, I had the credits needed for my CTS major, but would need to complete an additional 90 semester-hour credits to receive my Bachelor of Education degree. In some cases, successful candidates also needed to upgrade their secondary education to meet university requirements, primarily in English. Because of the tight time frame between application, acceptance and actually attending classes, the university allowed these few the opportunity to upgrade simultaneously with scheduled courses. 1 The primary tradespeople being sought are automotive mechanics, welders, cooks, aestheticians and carpenters. 2 Each school district distributes the financial support differently. 2

3 Understanding learning styles Since I began taking on-line courses, I have come to understand that universities rarely recognize the education offered at other universities. The fact that the U of A gives credit for journeyperson After my first semester teaching, the high school career counsellor asked me what I was doing. She told me that the number of students in the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) had grown by 50 per cent, and that two-thirds of the students wanted to be welders. status is commendable, and signifies that our training in the skilled trades is valued as a knowledge that is teachable. And yet, we were given only one year of accreditation for no less than three, and usually four (or more) years of apprenticeship. The value of the training we have to share is immeasurable, but the time we put into gaining the knowledge and skills required in our trade is not fully recognized. Consider it this way: if you were interested in taking a course on writing, who would be the more relevant teacher? The one with the major in writing or the one who had written a series of successfully published books? As tradespeople, we have effectively been published. That is, we know what is required to succeed in our industry in our area of expertise as it pertains to knowledge, skills, work ethic and goal-setting. I have taught in a high school for a year and a half now, and think that some of the greatest value we bring to the classroom is the fact that we view that what we have to teach as important. I personally think that welding and steel fabrication is important because I made a living doing it for a number of years. Students seem to pick up on this. After my first semester teaching, the high school career counsellor asked me what I was doing. She told me that the number of students in the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) had grown by 50 per cent, and that two-thirds of the students wanted to be welders. The relevancy that I bring to my program can be seen in student interest and as student returns. I tend to experience higher numbers in my intermediate and advanced programs than many of my non-certified counterparts. 3 This observation may be explained in simple terms: I believe that what I am teaching is important, so the students do as well, and this makes them more likely to continue their education in my trade. 3 There are some non-certified teachers who are exceptional at what they do, especially in carpentry it seems. 3

4 I learned a lot while attending classes at the U of A, and not just about Jean Piaget or the relevancy of reflection. As a teenager, I always seemed to be drawn more to the shops than to the classroom-settings. The unspoken assumption was that I, and students like me, were lazy or dumb, and quite possibly both. I was in high school in the 1980s and Howard Gardner s theory of multiple intelligences was relatively unknown. While taking a course on educational psychology, the professor was discussing some of the indicators of learning styles with respect to Gardner s theory, and I looked around. It was interesting for me to note that in this class a room that was mostly filled with successful tradespeople over half of the students were fidgeting in one way or another. Knees twitched up and down, pencils flicked back and forth between fingers, and hands tapped on desks. I remember looking at my friend, who is a journeyperson carpenter, and noticing that he was busy dis-assembling and re-assembling a pen. It was at this point that I realized three things. First, students like me are not dumb or lazy; we are kinesthetic and visual learners. Second, all of the theory taught at university actually had some relevancy to my teaching. And finally, what a nightmare it must have been to teach students like me when trying to teach in a linguistic-style learning format. As the course progressed, I realized that during my I had designed my courses to time teaching at the postsecondary level, I had be taught in ways in which I already applied much of the teaching methodology felt I would most benefit if I that was being recommended. For example, I used a were the student and the lot of visual mediums, continually moved around, and methods seemed to work taught theory in short bursts with discussion, stories well for fellow shop-heads. and games rather than long lectures. I had designed my courses to be taught in ways in which I felt I would most benefit if I were the student and the methods seemed to work well for fellow shop-heads. Gardner s theory validated both my own mental state and the effectiveness of the teaching methods that I had adopted. I am not (and was not) dumb or lazy, but I am a kinesthetic learner, and I think that this makes me a more effective teacher in my area of expertise because I can relate to the students who are drawn to CTS. If certain sections of the CTS apprenticeship-level training provided in the high school are taught by a certified journeyperson in the trade, students may get accreditation for the training from 4

5 Apprenticeship and Industry Training (AIT). While anyone with a Bachelor of Education is able to teach the material, the students would not get accreditation for it unless the teacher is a certified journeyperson in the trade. 4 In the welder trade, for example, students interested in receiving accreditation for the training I have provided in shop class would need to have a Record of Courses Completed form filled out that would include my journeyperson certificate number and the signature of AIT staff. To this end, students benefit from having certified journeypersons teach the material because there is an opportunity to have training recognized by the AIT. Addressing challenges to create opportunities for youth Because of the impending shortage of skilled labour, the Government of Alberta is committed to attracting and training new apprentices. Many school divisions have endeavoured to meet this need by initiating a dual credit program that is similar to Advanced Placement programs. Students may opt to take the apprenticeship-level course and gain high school credits while simultaneously acquiring the necessary knowledge to write the first period Technical Qualification exam. The program works well in conjunction with RAP, allowing students to graduate from high school and become journeypersons by the time they are 20 or 21 years old. Despite the opportunities for students, there have been some issues that are currently being sorted out. In high schools, most of the equipment and shop facilities are designed to be a one size fits all arrangement. That is, the school administration wants to be able to offer a variety of trade experiences for its students, but only has so much money to do so. The result is a shop, or shops, in which students may be able to do a wide variety of things, but with only a limited number of students at a time. These shops are multi-functional in that there is tooling for woodwork, auto mechanics, sheet metal work and welding, but there are not enough tools in one trade area to effectively teach a large group of students all at once. AIT requires that certain standards be met in a facility designed to teach apprentices, so even if a journeyperson is teaching, this type of lab would not be sufficient. 4 Some school districts will actually employ a certified teacher and a certified journeyperson to be in the same classroom in order to meet criteria for teaching first year apprenticeship material since individuals who have accreditation recognized by both the Professional Standards Branch and the AIT are scarce. 5

6 Given that the shop requirements to teach at the apprenticeship-level are extensive and expensive, most high schools lack the facilities to offer apprenticeship programs. It is simply not financially viable to build and equip an apprenticeship-level facility at every high school. In an effort to address this challenge, some school districts have built CTS Centres that are specifically designed for teaching CTS with the necessary equipment and facilities. Students are bussed in and out of these centres daily. This situation presents its own issues, however, because student attendance is difficult to maintain, and there has been disassociation between each student s home room and teaching advisor. Additionally, while this system is feasible in the city, it does not work well in small towns because of the distances. Other school districts have made it so that each school has a large shop and the programs then rotate from school to school for each semester. This approach allows students to experience one semester of carpentry and then one semester of welding, for example. The school districts that have implemented this practice have schools that are too far apart to make bussing feasible, making this an effective solution. While an innovative idea, the transportation of the somewhat sensitive and heavy equipment every six months does have its challenges. The school district in which I am employed has left While the school districts have the shops in most of the schools and has gone to great lengths to designated key schools with the facilities to run the facilitate these programs, it apprenticeship programs as Centres of seems that students are not Excellence. These are the schools where the signing up from other schools journeypersons are sent to teach. Students who as a result of limited exposure. wish to take the apprenticeship-level training are bussed in for half days for one full semester. Once again, while this system works for school districts within the city, it would not work for rural ones. An unfortunate occurrence that I have noticed seems to be a lack of student interest in these rewarding programs. Through discussions with other CTS teachers, I have a couple of ideas as to why this may be. While the school districts have gone to great lengths to facilitate these programs, it seems that students are not signing up from other schools as a result of limited exposure. For example, I currently have 11 students participating in the welding apprenticeship program. Out of these students, seven are from my own school and the other four are from three different schools in the district. My school district has approximately 49,000 students. One 6

7 would think that we would have far more student interest in these programs. Perhaps students are not as well educated about the opportunities that these programs offer. Perhaps students are resistant to the idea of commuting to a different school for half a day. Or perhaps the cold hard reality is that students simply do not have any interest in becoming tradespeople any more. Regardless of the reason, it seems that these programs have yet to be utilized to their full potential by the student body. Yet no matter what the future holds, I believe there are many benefits to having actual journeypersons teach shop at the high school level. Despite some of the low numbers of participation to date, the benefits of the CTS Bridge to Teacher Certification Program suggest it is a relevant and viable way to engage more students in the trades. Conclusion Tradespeople have more experience in a shop environment than university-educated CTS majors and as such, bring with them a whole host of added benefits. These include a strong knowledge of industry safety standards, familiarity with material that is relevant to industry, an ability to relate to students with similar learning and teaching styles, and the capacity to teach apprenticeship-level theory in high schools. While many school districts have adopted these programs, interest is still growing among students. As more students become aware of the opportunities that these programs offer, participation should increase, thereby introducing more youth to knowledgeable and passionate certified skilled tradespeople and the important work that they do. Relevant sources Government of Alberta, CTS Bridge to Teacher Certification frequently asked questions, Edmonton: Alberta Education, Government of Alberta, Framework for Action, Edmonton: Alberta Education, Government of Alberta, A Transformation in Progress: Alberta s ECS-12 Education Workforce 2011/2012, Edmonton: Alberta Education, Jason Purdy is a journeyperson welder and journeyperson millwright who is currently working to finish his bachelor of education degree. He teaches fabrication and first-year welding to Grade 10, 11 and 12 students in Alberta. The Canadian Apprenticeship Journal is a publication of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum. 7