Citation

Lyons, J., Randhawa, B., & Paulson, N. (1991). The development of vocational education in canada. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue Canadienne De L’éducation,16(2), 137-137. doi:10.2307/1494967

Concept of Interest

The authors examine the history of vocational education in Canada. The authors speculate how constitutional dilemmas have hampered the growth and development of vocational education. It is the author’s opinion that the current system needs to change.

Main Thesis

The authors speculate that Vocational education in Canada needs to change from its current form. If Canada is to be a player in a world that is advancing rapidly in technology we need to change the view of vocational education as second class as well as fix the current system that is in place. There are blurry lines between what is federal and what is a provincial jurisdiction.

Evidence

The authors use a conceptual framework by taking the reader through the timeline of various federal and provincial acts in regards to vocational education. The article cites previous studies in regards to the failure to encourage women, aboriginal groups, and those with disabilities to enter the trades. The paper also uses many federal and provincial reports to back up their claims.

Key Points

1. Canada cannot rely on immigration to solve it’s labour issues.

2. Canada’s history with vocational training has had many problems.

3. Canada needs a new national policy on apprenticeship, vocational training must be upgraded to meet modern needs.

Critique

This paper does an excellent job of taking the readers through the history of vocational education in Canada. They provide strong evidence that there is a disconnect between the jurisdiction of trades training by citing various acts and reports throughout its history. The paper would have benefitted from some more quantitative data as the authors move out of the background and into their argument that the current system needs to change. They claim that Canada is falling behind as an economic player but do little to support that argument. They make mention of the looming skilled labour shortage but do not provide any numbers to back up the severity of the issue.

Citation

Moogk, P. (1971). Apprenticeship indentures: A key to artisan life in new france. Historical Papers, 6(1), 65-65. doi:10.7202/030457ar

Concept of Interest

Moogk investigates the contracts of apprenticeships from the 17th and 18th Century of new France. Through this investigation, he provides examples and proof of how the Canadian apprenticeship system was run in the very early days of Canada.

Main Thesis

Canada was ahead of other industrial nations in apprenticeship. Apprenticeships were often paid and there was a relatively low number of orphans in the system as opposed to other countries where an apprenticeship came with a cost. While a relatively new country Canada made gains in its system apprenticeship.

Evidence

The Author uses notarized apprenticeship contracts and documents from government administrators to back up the historical claims. By engaging with these documents the authors use a conceptual framework to build a picture of what vocational education looked like in 17th and 18th Century Canada.

Key points

1. Canada changed the relationship between an apprentice an a master from one bordering on slave labour to one that was more equitable.

2. Apprenticeships were driven by the needs of the economy (for example masonry was a larger trade due to the need for builders).

3. Apprenticeships became more commonplace in the middle class. Previous to this in other countries (France and Britain) a high percentage were orphans.

4. Apprenticeship became more formalized with indenture contracts that were equally beneficial to the employer and the apprentice

Critique

By going through notarized contracts between master craftsman and apprentices, Peter Moggk provides a comprehensive background of what the apprenticeship system looked like in 17th and 18th century Canada. By his admission, not all apprenticeships were formalized with a contract. With that in mind, there will be gaps in the information that he was able to gather from these notarized “indentures.” Moogk also makes mention of the apprenticeship systems in Britain and France but does not provide much background information. Canada was based on these two forms of government so the paper could have been strengthened with some more background information.

Citation

Taylor, A. (2010). The contradictory location of high school apprenticeship in canada. Journal of Education Policy, 25(4), 503-517. doi:10.1080/02680931003735544

Concept of Interest

The author investigates high school apprenticeship programs in Canada. In the past the trades have been stigmatized and that all parties involved need to change these perceptions. These perceptions are in the type of students (It is only for those who can not make it academically), alignment between academic and practical knowledge and government policies. If high school apprenticeship programs are going to be successful there are some obstacles that need to be overcome.

Main Thesis

If Canada is to address its issue of the shortage of skilled workers it needs to work on some obstacle such as; the distance between academic and vocational education needs to be reduced, The history of the stigmatization of trades needs to be addressed, addressing how to position vocational education in a knowledge-based economy, and the intensification of positional competition through credentials.

Evidence

The research for the paper examined high school apprenticeship courses in Ontario, Alberta and BC. Ninety-two interviews and focus groups were conducted with individuals from large and small employers, high schools, apprenticeship trainers, and government departments. The author used an empirical methodology and used both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Key points

1. Trades have a history of being stigmatized.

2. The distance between academic education and practical skills education needs to be reduced.

3. High school students are having to compete with older and more experienced individuals for apprenticeships

4. School-work transition (SWT) programmes can be beneficial to not only the students but also the economy.

5. In order for anything to change it needs to happen at the government level and there is a need for policy changes. The government must play a greater role in facilitating any kind of change.

Critique

The author provides a comprehensive explanation of the history of vocational education in Canada. Taylor makes a strong case for her points on the issue of stigmatism and the narrowing of the gap between academic and vocational learning. An area of weakness is the claim that positional competition is an issue. Most of the evidence that is provided are anecdotal statements from interviews she conducted with little quantitative data to back up her claims. All in all the article could have been made stronger with the use of more quantitative data to support the arguments made. The paper focused solely on high school students but to be fair that was the intent of the study.

Citation

Gunderson, M., & Krashinsky, H. (2016). Apprenticeship in canada: An increasingly viable pathway? Challenge, 59(5), 405-421. doi:10.1080/05775132.2016.1226095

Concept of Interest

This article focuses on the present situation of formalized vocational education in Canada. It investigates the current situation, looks at some of the barriers and detriments associated with vocational education as well as the benefits and opportunities that vocational education affords.

Main Thesis

The authors argue that vocational education (formalized apprenticeships) in Canada has helped improve the life of the workers involved in this educational track. By investigating the benefits and examining the issues the authors make some recommendations that could help the current system.

Evidence

The authors use evidence gathered from other sources as well as the Canadian 2006 census. The authors use a conceptual framework for their own arguments based off of the papers and studies that they refer to.

Key points

1. There is a difference between formalized vocational education and “trades” education.

2. While there are clearly some barriers to formalized vocational education, they are not insurmountable.

3. There is strong evidence that formalized vocational education is good for workers and for the economy.

4. There is a lack of information regarding vocational education which prevents some from seeing this as a viable career path.

Critique

Gunderson and Krashinsky do an adequate job of describing the current state of formalized vocational education in Canada (as of 2016). They provide a lot of references to some of their claims. There are times where they make statements or provide statistics and offer no backing evidence. They make the case that one of the issues that face vocational education in Canada is the government policies. They are very ambiguous about the policies that they are referring to and offer no substantial suggestions about how those policies could be changed. If one of the larger barriers to formalized education is government policy (as the authors claim) the article would be stronger with suggestions on how those policies could be addressed.

Citation

Meredith, J. (2011). Apprenticeship in Canada: where’s the crisis? Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 63(3), 323–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2011.570453

Concept of Interest

Using the Canadian 2006 census the author investigates the health of the Canadian apprenticeship system. Meredith does this by researching Government policy, pedagogy and administration. The author also conducted a series of 33 interviews with employers to gather insight to workplace training, skills utilization and engagement.

Main Thesis

The author states that vocational education in Canada is not healthy. There is no consistency and no oversight to make sure that skill formation is actually occurring. There is a strong disconnect between the employers and policies that will make sure that apprentices are receiving the training they need to further their own careers in the trades in Canada

Evidence

Meredith uses an empirical and conceptual methodology for his study. He uses data gathered in Canadas 200 census to gain an understanding of the quantitative data related to Canadian trades. The author also performs a Qualitative study by interviewing 33 employers to gather information in regards to workplace training and skill utilization.

Key points

1. There is no actual formal apprenticeship contract in Canada. This makes it difficult for the worker or employer to put much stake in each other’s interests.

2. There is a strong disconnect between the federal government, provincial governments and the private sector in regards to vocational education in Canada. This makes consistency almost impossible.

3. There are no formalized systems in place that are assuring that the apprentices are receiving the proper training for their trades.

4. The current system rewards employers who use apprentices as cheap labour as opposed to those who take the time and effort to make sure their employees are receiving the proper skills.

Critique

This paper provides a comprehensive look at the Canadian apprenticeship as it is today. The author spends a lot of time discussing the disconnect between the key holders and cites government policies as being a large part of the problem. In the introduction, the article explains that there are also issues in the pedagogical realm of apprenticeship training. The paper then goes on to provide hardly any evidence or information to back up this point. The paper’s argument could have been made stronger with some more quantitative and qualitative evidence to back up the claims that there is an issue in the pedagogy of vocational education in Canada.