Apprenticeship News 1/18/2024
Apprenticeships are far more popular in markets such as the United Kingdom and European Union than Canada or the United States. But almost worldwide, more and more employers are discovering not just the concept of apprenticeships, but how they can become powerful recruitment tools.
We’ve gathered insights from a dozen experts, including Directors of Operations and HR Managers to explore the benefits of apprenticeships for experiential recruiting. These insights range from infusing teams with practical skills to bridging knowledge and practice.
On Tuesday, January 9th, the BMC Wellness Center hosted a groundbreaking event — the official signing ceremony for the Nursing Apprenticeship Program. With an enthusiastic gathering present, this ceremony marked a pivotal moment for aspiring healthcare professionals and the state of Alabama.
Alabama’s proactive approach led to the creation of the Student Nurse Apprentice License, a pioneering credential that all participants will operate under during their learning journey. This novel license has gained national recognition, setting a precedent in the realm of healthcare education.
The program garnered attention as three ambitious students — Kamolyut Mengumpun, Kendra Hoskins, and Carson Gibbs — committed themselves to this innovative initiative, signifying their dedication to a career in healthcare.
Carson Gibbs, inspired by his father’s career in healthcare, shared that it’s his drive to make a difference in people’s lives through compassion that has drawn him to this apprenticeship opportunity.
BY MIRANDA SPINDT
LRB 4274 introduced by Representative William Penterman would allow educator preparatory programs (EPPs), such as universities, to introduce a “2+2” teacher apprenticeship model to address the teacher shortages we face in Wisconsin. This pathway is a promising alternative to the traditional teacher licensure pathway that has not been meeting the demand for teachers. At its core, this model seeks to provide would-be teachers with greater experience before becoming fully licensed, which removes barriers to entering the teaching profession and makes them better prepared to enter and stay in the field.
In the “2+2” teacher apprenticeship model, the first two years of a bachelor’s degree in education would be filled with education major courses rather than general education courses. Then students can earn their general education credits through their teacher apprenticeship in the second two years. The Institute for Reforming Government published a paper discussing this model at length, and they have been instrumental in the process of creating this bill. Under LRB 4274, EPPs can still offer a conventional program that involves two years of general education requirements, two years of education major requirements, and just one semester of student teaching. However, the superintendent could approve programs with a student teaching requirement for up to four semesters, giving EPPs the flexibility to create a program that works for them.
Additionally, the bill mandates the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to establish an apprenticeship program for students engaging in more than one semester of student teaching. The legislation also emphasizes the importance of tracking the scores of required teacher certification tests to ensure the quality of apprenticeship programs.
This comes at a time when school districts in Wisconsin and across the United States have been struggling to meet the growing challenge of finding and retaining qualified teachers. Between 2005-06 and 2018-19, the number of bachelor’s degrees in education in declined by 22% nationally. In Southeast Wisconsin alone, completed education degrees and certificates decreased by 12.9% from 2011 to 2019. Interest in entering the profession is dwindling in the face of high student loan debt with modest starting salaries, and a lack of preparedness when first entering the classroom leads to a 44% teacher turnover rate within the first five years—disrupting student-teacher relationships and impacts academic success. At the start of the 2022-23 school year, notable districts like Milwaukee Public Schools, Madison Metropolitan School District, and Racine Unified School District faced significant teacher vacancies.
LOCK HAVEN — Commonwealth University Workforce Development at CU-Lock Haven has partnered with Keystone Central Career and Technology Center to offer two pre-apprenticeship training opportunities during the spring 2024 semester.
Classes being offered will be MasterCam 2D Milling and MasterCam Lathe and both will meet in person with a certified instructor one evening per week for 10 weeks. Each class will be held for four hours. Students will be given the opportunity to test programs utilizing simulators and all resources are included. Students are encouraged to bring a flash drive to store their work. Both classes are offered at $868 per class.
MasterCam 2D Milling will be held from Jan. 23 through March 26 and will include basic and intermediate programming skills:
— Setting the environment
— Basic CAD drawings
— Drilling
— Drill and contour toolpaths
— Drill-contour, pocket toolpaths
— Geometry creation of arts
— Facing operations
MasterCam Lathe will be held from April 2 through June 4 and will include basic and intermediate programming skills:
— Setting the environment
— Basic CAD drawings
— Drilling
— Drill and contour toolpaths
— Drill-contour, pocket toolpaths
— Geometry creation of arts
— Facing operations
— Internal and external threading
— Boring
Training opportunities are eligible to be reimbursed through WEDnetPA funds. If you do not currently have a WEDnetPA partner, please consider choosing Lock Haven for the 23-24 program year.
Social Enterprise and Workforce Development - Catholic Charities USA
The Challenge
Too many individuals are either unemployed or underemployed, facing upheaval in the economy and the job market, and with no sustainable career pathway ahead of them. Access to opportunities and resources can change not only their lives, but those of their families and communities.
The Response
Many Catholic Charities agencies offer a combination of workforce development programs — to provide those who are unemployed or underemployed with the necessary skills to pursue meaningful work — and social enterprise programs that offer opportunities for clients to hone their new skills in a supportive environment.
Workforce Development
Workforce development pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs combine specialized skills trainings, so clients can follow a career pathway in a trade, with case management, client-employer connection and follow-up until the client becomes self-sufficient.
Undergirding many of these programs are foundational educational offerings, such as adult basic education (ABE), GED, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), employment readiness and financial education.
Constructing Success After Prison | Washington State Department of Corrections
Finding a job is one of the most challenging obstacles for formerly incarcerated individuals. Providing educational, vocational and work opportunities to people while they are incarcerated makes a difference when they return to the community by providing opportunities for further education or gainful employment.
Construction and trade programs are among some of the most successful, because upon release, there tend to be more opportunities for employment. The Women’s Prison Division offers the Trades Related Apprenticeship Coaching (TRAC)(pdf) program in both the Washington Corrections Center for Women and Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women.
TRAC is a pre-apprenticeship program that provide the skills and training needed to enter apprenticeship programs with a variety of different unions. Read this recent Seattle Times article for more information on the successes of people who have graduated from the TRAC program.
9 Little-Known Military Transition Resources for Veterans - ClearanceJobs
For military members that will be transitioning out of the military soon, committing to four years of college might not be on their immediate radar or even something they might not be interested in doing at all. But training for a post-military career that takes less than a year might be something worth pursuing.
Local nonprofit organization Savannah Tree Foundation (STF) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $1 million, four-year grant to fund its Canopy Corps program, which addresses tree inequity and provides green job training opportunities in Chatham County. The grant was awarded by the Georgia Forestry Commission as part of its federally-funded Trees Across Georgia program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
The program will feature a year-long arboriculture apprenticeship for individuals facing barriers to employment, especially those who are not traditionally represented in the arboriculture field. Participants in the program will attain the skills necessary to work in the tree industry or a related field. As a significant part of this program, apprentices will plant trees in historically underserved neighborhoods to increase tree canopy and address tree inequity in Chatham County.
Each annual apprenticeship cohort will have three paid participants who will work full-time. STF will partner with local economic development nonprofit Step Up Savannah to identify candidates and provide soft skills training. In total, STF anticipates more than 1,600 new trees will be planted in underserved areas of Chatham County by the end of this program.
Students can now apply for the Coca-Cola Consolidated Apprenticeship Program. This hands-on learning opportunity is designed to “earn and learn,” providing paid apprenticeships to
stimulate interest in high-demand manufacturing, equipment repair, and logistics positions.
Central Piedmont is accepting interest inquiries for the program, which begins in Summer 2024 and spans 12 months.
During the program, apprentices will work approximately 20 hours weekly while completing three to four college courses each semester. Apprentices will transition to full-time positions upon successful completion of the program.
Program Details
Eligible applicants will gain paid experience through part-time roles at Coca-Cola Consolidated and its transportation subsidiary Red Classic Transportation, alongside financial support for career certificates, preparing them for positions such as:
- Manufacturing & Warehouse Mechanic: Including the completion of Industrial Automation Technician I & two certificates
- Diesel Mechanic (Red Classic Transportation): Including the completion of Over the Road Specialist I & two certificates
- Equipment Services Reconditioning Technician: Focusing on HVAC and electrical skills, including an HVAC-R Technology specialization in Industry Introduction
Tech
AIKEN, S.C. – (January 17, 2024) – Twenty-two apprentices recently earned their Nuclear
Fundamentals Technology Certificate from Denmark Technical College (DTC) after graduating from the
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) Nuclear Operator Program. Designed to fill vacancies for
mission-critical positions, the program has successfully transitioned three apprenticeship cohorts into full time roles at the Savannah River Site (SRS).