Learning Trades from Home: Lack of learning opportunities in rural communities.

People that live in rural communities have, for the most part, had to relocate to larger urban settings to gain higher levels of education. I teach skilled trades so the focus for this blog will be on that sector, though it also applies to most other educational pathways. Most of the research I could find in this area centred around COVID and how it at least temporarily changed the way we taught. I will attempt to highlight what has changed and what is still changing the delivery of trades education.

• My research thus far is confined to Alberta and how the trades are organized and training delivered in this province.
• Pre pandemic the majority of trades were delivered in person at one of the government approved training facilities. The theory and shop portions were all face to face in class sessions and students were required to find temporary accommodations for the duration of the class.
• In Alberta the apprentice programs are overseen by the government through ministry of Apprenticeship and Industry Training (AIT). This organization sets the standards, curriculum and duration of the training.
• AIT, in consultation with the training providers, sets out the schedules for classes for each year.
• Because of the limited number of locations for training, depending on the trade, the students are required to relocate, often paying rent at both locations, for between 6 to 8 weeks, for each year of their apprenticeship.
• During training a large majority of apprentices are required to apply for employment insurance, sometimes not getting any money till the course is over.
• During COVID the theory portion of the course delivery was done online, material was made available through an LMS and instructors used zoom meetings to deliver lectures. The teaching model remained the same but the delivery changed.
• With the pandemic panic over most classes have returned to pre COVID delivery, with the addition of course material available online, and some courses sticking with online testing.
• AIT does now advertise four delivery methods, not all available for all trades, Standard Class Delivery, Blended Learning, Competency Based Apprenticeship Training (CBAT), and Front End Study, (https://tradesecrets.alberta.ca/apprentice-services/).
• AIT does also advertise five delivery types, Block Release, CBAT, Distance, Mobile, and Weekly Apprenticeship Training System (WATS), not all are available for all trades, (https://tradesecrets.alberta.ca/apprentice-services/).

Post secondary education presents a number of hurdles for students in rural areas. The lack of local learning opportunities necessitates having to move to where training is available, interrupting lives and adding expenses. Apprenticeship programs require the repeated interruption of work to attend short training periods and can upset the home lives of the individuals. With the government introducing incentives for increasing the number of journeymen in the work force, I feel it is important to build on some the learning we did during the COVID years and redesign how training is delivered to the trades.