Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of skilled crafts practitioners. Apprentices (or in early modern usage "prentices") build their careers from apprenticeships. Most of their training is done on the job while working for an employer who helps the apprentices learn their trade. Often some informal, theoretical education is also involved. Apprenticeships are available all over the world in a variety of different fields. Internships are similar to apprenticeships, in that interns work in a temporary position for the training they receive by professionals in the field.

Overview

An apprentice is a person who works for a set time in attempt to learn a trade or profession in which someone who is already knowledgeable in the trade acts as the teacher. The word developed from Latin around the fourteenth century, from the Latin root apprehendre which meant "someone learning."

Apprenticeships differ from academic study, or schooling, in that each student learns directly by watching and working together with a master craftsman. It is thus a form of experiential learning, practical training of a skill whose major components are not intellectual, although study may also be required. A key feature of apprenticeships is the passing on of the tradition of a craft, as the apprentice learns the way of life from the master artisan.

While industrialization and urbanization have led many societies to develop educational systems that involve the classroom setting, apprenticeships are still favored in many traditional arts, as well as culture-specific traditions such as the training of a shaman in Korea or the tradition of Japanese gardening which was passed down from sensei to apprentice, in a rigorous apprenticeship that has remained unbroken since the fifteenth century in Japan.

Apprenticeships continue to be available in many different fields and areas of business including: administration, agriculture, construction, customer service, engineering, finance, health care, hospitality, media, recreation, and transportation.

Origin of apprenticeships

In Europe, the system of apprenticeship developed in the later Middle Ages, supervised by craft guilds and town governments. However, it was well known in ancient civilizations such as Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as in Asia.

A master craftsman was entitled to employ young people as an inexpensive form of labor in exchange for providing formal training in the craft. Most apprentices were males, but female apprentices were found in a number of crafts associated with embroidery, silk-weaving, and so forth Apprentices were young (usually about fourteen to twenty-one years of age), unmarried, and would live in the master craftsman's household. Most apprentices aspired to become master craftsmen themselves on completion of their contract (usually a term of seven years), but some would spend time as journeymen and a significant proportion would never acquire their own workshop. Journeymen went to different towns and villages and spent time in the workshops of their apprenticeship in order to gain experience.

Subsequently governmental regulation and the licensing of polytechnics and vocational education have formalized and bureaucratized the details of apprenticeship in many countries.

Internships

The modern concept of an internship is similar to an apprenticeship. Universities use the apprenticeship scheme in their production of scholars: bachelors are promoted to masters and then produce a thesis under the oversight of a supervisor before the corporate body of the university recognizes the reaching of the standard of a doctorate. Another view of this system is of graduate students in the role of apprentices, post-docs as journeymen, and professors as masters. Also similar to apprenticeships are the professional development arrangements for new graduates in accountancy and the law.

Requirements

An apprenticeship must arise from an agreement, sometimes labeled an indenture, which possesses all the requisites of a valid contract. Both minors and adults can be legally obligated under the terms of an apprenticeship contract, and any person who has the capacity to manage his or her own affairs may engage an apprentice. In some states, a minor may void a contract of apprenticeship, but in cases where the contract is beneficial to the minor other jurisdictions do not permit the minor to void it. There must be strict compliance with statutes that govern a minor's actions concerning an apprenticeship.

France

In France, apprenticeships developed between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, with guilds structured around apprentices, journeymen and master craftsmen, continuing in this way until 1791, when the guilds were suppressed. In 1851, the first law on apprenticeships came into force. From 1919, young people had to take 150 hours of theory and general lessons in their subject a year. This minimum training time rose to three hundred sixty hours a year in 1961, then four hundred in 1986.

The first training centers for apprentices (centres de formation d'apprentis, CFAs) appeared in 1961, and in 1971 apprenticeships were legally made part of professional training. In 1986 the age limit for beginning an apprenticeship was raised from twenty to twenty five. From 1987 the range of qualifications achievable through an apprenticeship was widened to include the brevet professionnel (certificate of vocational aptitude), the bac professionnel (vocational baccalaureat diploma), the brevet de technicien supérieur(advanced technician's certificate), engineering diplomas, and more.

On January 18 2005, President Jacques Chirac announced the introduction of a law on a program for social cohesion comprising the three pillars of employment, housing, and equal opportunities. The French government pledged to further develop apprenticeship as a path to success at school and to employment, based on its success: in 2005, eighty percent of young French people who had completed an apprenticeship entered employment. In France, the term denotes manual labor only. The plan aimed to raise the number of apprentices from three hundred sixty five thousand in 2005 to five hundred thousand in 2009. To achieve this aim, the government granted tax relief for companies when they take on apprentices. (Since 1925 a tax has been levied to pay for apprenticeships.) The minister in charge of the campaign, Jean-Louis Borloo, also hoped to improve the image of apprenticeships with an information campaign, as they are often connected with academic failure at school and an ability to grasp only practical skills and not theory. After the civil unrest end of 2005, the government, led by prime minister Dominique de Villepin, announced a new law. Dubbed "law on equality of chances," it created the First Employment Contract as well as manual apprenticeship as early as fourteen years old. From this age, students are allowed to quit the compulsory school system in order to quickly learn a vocation. This measure has long been a policy of conservative French political parties, and was met by tough opposition from trade unions and students.

Germany

Apprenticeships are part of Germany's successful dual education system, and as such form an integral part of many people's working life. Young people can learn one of over three hundred and fifty apprenticeship occupations (Ausbildungsberufe), such as Doctor's Assistant, Banker, Dispensing Optician, or Oven Builder. The dual system means that apprentices spend most of their time in companies and the rest in formal education. Usually, they work for three to four days a week in the company and then spend one or two days at a vocational school (Berufsschule). These Berufsschulen have been part of the education system since the nineteenth century.

In 1969, a law (the Berufsausbildungsgesetz) was passed which regulated and unified the vocational training system and codified the shared responsibility of the state, the unions, associations and chambers of trade and industry. The dual system was successful in both parts of divided Germany: in the GDR, three quarters of the working population had completed apprenticeships.

Although the rigid training system of the GDR, linked to the huge collective combines, did not survive reunification, the system remains popular in modern Germany: in 2001, two thirds of young people aged under twenty two began an apprenticeship, and 78 percent of them completed it, meaning that approximately 51 percent of all young people under twenty two have completed an apprenticeship. One in three companies offered apprenticeships in 2003; in 2004 the government signed a pledge with industrial unions that all companies except very small ones must take on apprentices.

The precise skills and theory taught during apprenticeships are strictly regulated, meaning that everyone who has, for example, had an apprenticeship as an Industriekaufmann (someone who works in an industrial company as a personnel assistant or accountant) has learned the same skills and had the same courses in procurement and stocking up, cost and activity accounting, staffing, accounting procedures, production, profit and loss accounting and various other subjects. The employer is responsible for the entire program; apprentices are not allowed to be employed and have only an apprenticeship contract. The time taken is also regulated; each occupation takes a different time, but the average is 35 months. People who have not taken this apprenticeship are not allowed to call themselves an Industriekaufmann; the same is true for all of the occupations.

United Kingdom

Apprenticeships have a long tradition in the United Kingdom's education system. In early modern England "parish" apprenticeships under the Poor Law came to be used as a way of providing for poor children of both genders alongside the regular system of apprenticeships, which tended to provide for boys from slightly more affluent backgrounds.

In modern times, the system became less and less important, especially as employment in heavy industry and artisan trades declined. Traditional apprenticeships reached their lowest point in the 1970s: by that time, training programs were rare and people who were apprentices learned mainly by example. In 1986, National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) were introduced, in an attempt to revitalize vocational training. Still, by 1990, apprenticeship took up only two-thirds of one percent of total employment.

In 1994, the government introduced Modern Apprenticeships (in England - but not Scotland or Wales - the name was changed to Apprenticeships in 2004), again to try to improve the image of work-based learning and to encourage young people and employers to participate. (Modern) Apprenticeships are based on frameworks devised initially by National Training Organisations and now by their successors, Sector Skills Councils, state-sponsored but supposedly "employer-led" bodies responsible for defining training requirements in their sector (such as Business Administration or Accounting). Frameworks consist of National Vocational Qualifications, a technical certificate, and key skills such as literacy and numeracy. Those who complete all elements of the framework receive a certificate, but the apprenticeship is not a discrete qualification.

In 2005 there were more than 160 apprenticeship frameworks. Unlike traditional apprenticeships, this extends beyond "craft" and skilled trades to areas of the service sector with no apprenticeship tradition. Employers who participate in the scheme have an employment contract with their apprentices, but off-the-job training and assessment is wholly funded by the state through various agencies - such as the Learning and Skills Council in England and its equivalents in Scotland and Wales. These agencies contract with "learning providers" who organize and/or deliver training and assessment services to employers. Providers are usually private training companies but might also be further education colleges, voluntary sector organizations, Chambers of Commerce, or employer Group Training Associations; only about five percent of apprenticeships are directly contracted with single employers participating in the scheme. There is no minimum time requirement for apprenticeships, although the average time spent completing a framework is roughly twenty-one months.

In 2000, the Government established the Modern Apprenticeships Advisory Committee (MAAC) to recommend how best to ensure that the quality of Modern Apprenticeships fully matches the standards set by leading nations worldwide. Its 2001 report noted that "England currently does not have a strong apprenticeships system"; critical weaknesses identified included: declining participation by young people; low completion rates, with only about a third of all apprentices completing their frameworks; and weaknesses in training, assessment and data collection. Many young people and employers were still unaware of exactly what an apprenticeship involved.

Changes recommended by the Committee at first seemed to have little effect: between 2000 and 2003, the number of people starting apprenticeships fell from 76,800 to 47,300. In 2001, just over one fifth of young people under age twenty-two took up an apprenticeship: of these, only thirty three percent actually completed it, making approximately seven percent of young British people under twenty two who completed an apprenticeship in 2001. Between 2001 and 2005, however, the percentage of young people completing apprenticeships rose from twenty four percent to 39 percent and in 2005 it was announced that the target of having 28 percent of sixteen to twenty-one year olds start an apprenticeship had been met. Recognizing that demand for apprenticeship places exceeds supply from employers, and that many young people, parents and employers still associated apprenticeship with craft trades and manual occupations, the Government developed a major marketing campaign in 2004.

United States

Apprenticeship programs in the United States are regulated by the National Apprenticeship Act, also known as the "Fitzgerald Act." In the United States, education officials and nonprofit organizations who seek to emulate the apprenticeship system in other nations have created school to work education reforms. They seek to link academic education to careers. Some programs include job shadowing, watching a real worker for a short period of time, or actually spending significant time at a job at no or reduced pay that would otherwise be spent in academic classes working. Some legislators raised the issue of child labor laws for unpaid labor or jobs with hazards.

The standards based education reform movement was based on research by the NCEE (headed by Marc Tucker) in Japan, Denmark, Singapore, and Germany. The study "America's Choice, High Skills or Low Wages" found that each of these countries has central ministry which requires a standard curriculum that all students must take with no exceptions. The NCEE study proposed creating internationally-benchmarked standards for educational achievement. All education programs would lead to a skill certificate that "certifies that an individual has mastered occupational skills at levels that are a least as challenging as skill standards endorsed by the National Skills Standards Board." The National Skill Standards Board was established as part of Goals 2000 to match the competencies cited by the Department of Labor's SCANS report. The NCEE study, A Human Resources Development Plan for the United States, stated:

These new professional and technical certificates and degrees typically are won within three years of acquiring the general education certificate [Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM)] captures all of the essentials of the apprenticeship idea...redefines college... can access the system through the requirement that their employers spend an amount equal to 1 and 1/2 percent of their salary and wage bill on training leading to national skill certification.

In contrast to the scenario of the NCEE study "America's Choice, High Skills or Low Wages," European students in nations such as Germany are actually tracked by test scores between college-bound, skilled apprenticeship and unskilled labor tracks, rather than held to one uniform passing standard. After elementary school, half of all German students are tracked to the Hauptschule (a five-year, upper-elementary school for manual trades). At fifteen, students enter this trade school and become apprentices in their chosen professions, graduating with trade certifications at age 18. About one in four are assigned to the Realschule for training in white-collar jobs in finance or administration (which includes on-the-job training from ages 16 to 18). Originally, only one quarter of German students attended the Gymnasium (college-preparatory high school, graduation from which is necessary to attend a college or university). In Germany, apprenticeships essentially end a person's education by age sixteen, whereas in the U.S. apprenticeships could occur at any age.

In the United States, school to work programs usually occur only in high school. American high schools were introduced in the early twentieth century to educate students of all ability and interests in one learning community rather than prepare a small number for college. Traditionally, American students are tracked within a wide choice of courses based on ability, with vocational courses (such as auto repair and carpentry) tending to be at the lower end of academic ability and trigonometry and pre-calculus at the upper end.

American education reformers have sought to end such tracking, which is seen as a barrier to opportunity. By contrast, the system studied by the NCEE actually relies much more heavily on tracking. Education officials in the U.S., based largely on school redesign proposals by NCEE and other organizations, have chosen to use criterion-referenced tests that define one high standard that must be achieved by all students to receive a uniform diploma. American education policy under the "No Child Left Behind Act" has as an official goal the elimination of the achievement gap between populations. This has often led to the need for remedial classes in college.

Many U.S. states now requiring passing a high school graduation examination to ensure that students across all ethnic, gender, and income groups possess the same skills. In states such as Washington, critics have questioned whether this ensures success for all or just creates massive failure (as only half of all 10th graders have demonstrated they can meet the standards).

There is a movement in the U.S. to revive vocational education. For example, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) has opened the Finishing Trades Institute (FTI). The FTI is working towards national accreditation so that it may offer associate and bachelor degrees that integrate academics with a more traditional apprentice programs. The IUPAT has joined forces with the Professional Decorative Painters Association (PDPA) to build educational standards using a model of apprenticeship created by the PDPA.

Persons interested in learning to become electricians can join one of several apprenticeship programs offered jointly by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association. No background in electrical work is required. A minimum age of 18 is required. There is no maximum age. Men and women are equally invited to participate. The organization in charge of the program is called the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee.

Apprentice electricians work 37 to 40 hours per week at the trade under the supervision of a journeyman electrician and receive pay and benefits. They spend an additional 6 hours per week in classroom training. At the conclusion of training (five years for commercial and industrial construction, less for residential construction), apprentices become journeymen (and women). All of this is offered at no charge, except for the cost of books. Persons completing this program are considered highly skilled by employers and command high pay and benefits. Other unions such as the Ironworkers, Sheet Metal Workers, Plasterers, Bricklayers and others offer similar programs.

Internships

An intern is one who works in a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than merely employment, making it similar to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students, but they can also be other adults seeking skills for a new career. Student internships provide opportunities for students to gain experience in their field, determine if they have an interest in a particular career, create a network of contacts, or gain school credit.

An internship may be either paid, unpaid or partially paid (in the form of a stipend). Paid internships are most common in the medical, science, engineering, law, business (especially accounting and finance), technology, and advertising fields. Internships in not-for-profit organizations such as charities and think tanks are often unpaid, volunteer positions. Internships may be part-time or full-time; typically they are part-time during the university year and full-time in the summer, and they typically last 6-12 weeks, but can be shorter or longer.

Internship positions are available from businesses, government departments, non-profit groups, and organizations. In Canada the term "cooperative education" is used more often to describe this same type of program. Due to strict labor laws, European internships, though mostly unpaid, are popular among non-Europeans to gain international exposure on one's resume and for foreign language improvement. Different kinds of internships exist in different industries or settings, and for different purposes:

Work experience internship: Most often taken in the second or third year of the school period, the placement can be from two months to sometimes even one full school year. During this period the student is supposed to use what he or she has learned in school and put it into practice. The work experience gained experience is helpful to complete the last year of study.

Research internship or dissertation internship: Most often done by students that are in their last year of studies or in graduate school, this type of internship involves conducting research for a particular company. The research topic may be chosen by the student, or assigned as an area of research needed by the company. Typically, the student is asked to present a report following completion of their research.

Medical internship: A medical intern, in the context of medical education in the United States, is a historical term for a physician in training who has completed medical school, passed step two of the USMLE or COMLEX-USA, and is undergoing his or her first year of post-graduate training (PGY1). An "intern" in the medical field has an M.D. or D.O. degree, but does not have a full license to practice medicine unsupervised in the U.S. In other countries medical education generally ends with a period of practical training similar to internship, but the way the overall program of academic and practical medical training is structured differs in each case, as does the terminology used in medical education.

International internship: Many students do internships in a different country to obtain international experience and learn an additional language. The meaning of such internships is different around the globe. At Spanish universities it is not common to do an internship during the education period. However, Spain is a popular country for students to go to for a short period of time to do an internship, as many students want to learn Spanish, and this is a perfect opportunity for them to do so. Internships in Spain are almost never paid. In the UK, Canada, and Australia there are both unpaid and paid internships. The unpaid internships are mostly chosen by students who are either still in school and doing an internship as part of the requirements of school or who have just left school. The paid internship is mostly for people that want to come to these countries to improve their English, and is not necessarily related to their area of specialization. In Germany there are different kinds of internships but most are paid. Most students take their internship during the third or fourth year of their degree. They have a dissertation internship as well, called Diplomarbeit, as well as another type of internship, the post graduation internship. At French universities it is also common to do an internship, called stage, during the third or fourth year of studies. Students who did not have a chance to do an internship during their study time may do an internship after having finished studying. A primary purpose is to gain some working experience with the thought of getting hired after the internship period. An internship in France is also popular for international students.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bogart, Greg. 1997. The Nine Stages of Spiritual Apprenticeship: Understanding the Student-Teacher Relationship. Dawn Mountain Press. ISBN 978-0963906854.
• Farr, J. Shatkin, Laurence. 2005. 250 Best Jobs Through Apprenticeships. Jist Publishings. ISBN 978-1593571733.
• Fealy, Gerard. 2005. A History of Apprenticeship Nurse Training in Ireland: Bright Faces and Neat Dresses. TF-ROUTL. ISBN 978-0415359979.
• Green, Marianne Ehrlich. 1998. Internship Success. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0844244952.
• King, Mary. Sweitzer, Frederick. 2003. The Successful Internship: Transformation and Empowerment in Experiential Learning. Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 978-0534558796.
• Lehman, Jeffrey. Phelps, Shirelle. 2004. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-0787663674.
• Oakes, Elizabeth. 1998. Ferguson's Guide to Apprenticeship Programs. Ferguson Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0894342431.
• Singleton, John. 1998. Learning in Likely Places: Varieties of Apprenticeship in Japan. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521480124

External links

• Apprenticeships - a great idea (UK) Retrieved August 2, 2007.
• Barry Yeoman Academic Apprentices: Still an Ideal?, Duke Magazine Retrieved August 2, 2007.
• Apprenticeship in the British "Training Market. Retrieved August 2, 2007.
• Jacoby, Daniel. Apprenticeship in the United States EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. August 25, 2001. Retrieved August 2, 2007.

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