Tables and Figures
tables
i.1Main types and functions of alternation training models8
2.1Student numbers in professional and technical education, 1991–1992 to 1997–199855
2.2Number of alternation projects identified, 1994–200059
2.3Number of students in vocational and technical training compared to number of students in work-study alternation59
3.1Models of alternation training in Canada73
4.1Province of Ontario secondary school course enrolment by major subject area102
5.1Post-secondary educational activity within five years of leaving high school, 1988–1993117
5.2Institution of graduation in 1993 by institution first attended in 1989118
5.3Credentials earned by 1993118
5.4Type of apprenticeship program attended, by sex120
5.5Educational aspirations and expectations in 1989 and 1993, by 1993 post-secondary participation status122
5.6Beliefs about education, work, and general well-being in 1989 and 1993, by 1993 post-secondary participation status123
5.7“If I could choose again, would I make the same educational choices?” by 1993 post-secondary participation status125
8.1Conceptions of learning180
8.2Conceptions of learning, by work term184
10.1Unemployment by field of study, 1996221
10.2Proportion in professional/managerial occupations by field of study, 1996223
10.3Income by field of study, 1996224
11.1Trends in apprenticeship in Canada245
11.2Apprenticeship registration by province, 1999248
11.3Registration in apprenticeship programs, by major trade group249
12.1Employment outcomes by pathway for women former apprentices268
12.2Annual incomes by pathway for women former apprentices269
12.3Job satisfaction by pathway for women former apprentices269 figures
i.1Transition routes from school to work11
3.1Transition routes from school to work in Canada according to their quantitative importance69
9.1Alternation career path for teachers211
11.1Female enrolment in apprenticeship programs by province, 1997–1998 (as percentage of total enrolment)251
11.2Apprenticeship completion rate by province, 1999 (as percentage of total registration)253
Contributors
lesley andres is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her research and teaching interests include the sociology of education, foundations of higher education, issues of inequality and access, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. She is the principal investigator of several research projects on the transition of youth to adulthood, including the Paths on Life’s Way Project of bc young adults in a changing society.
paul anisef is a professor in sociology at York University in Toronto. For well over a decade, he has conducted extensive research on the topics of accessibility to Canadian higher education, the transition from school to work at the secondary and post-secondary levels of education, and careers for Canadian youth. This research has resulted in numerous publications. He is currently an associate director of ceris , a federally funded centre of excellence for research on immigration and settlement.
paul axelrod is a professor and dean of education at York University. His research interests include the history of schooling and higher education, the political economy of higher education, the history of youth, and the transitions from schooling to employment. He is the author of many publications and has received a number of prizes for his scholarly work, including the Research Award (1992) from the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education.
laurier caron has been a research counsellor at the headquarters of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec for twelve years, responsible for professional and adult education. A member of several research groups on training, work, and employment, he coordinates research on developments in alternation education and training.
nancy émond holds a master’s degree in counselling and orientation from Université Laval. She has been a research officer for the Research Centre for Education and School Success (crires ) and for the Group for Policy Analysis, and she currently works as a counsellor in an employment agency.
paul gallagher is a former community college president and has served on many federal and provincial government post-secondary policy committees and boards. He has written extensively on the Canadian college system and on government post-secondary education and training policies.
garnet grosjean is a research associate with the Centre for Higher Education and Training at the University of British Columbia. Current research interests include the vocationalizing of the university curriculum and policy issues surrounding learning and training outcomes.
marcelle hardy is a professor in the Department of Educational Sciences at the Université du Québec à Montréal. She is network leader of the Inter-university Research Group on Education, Training, and Employment (girfe ). She also heads a research group on high school–workplace and high school–college partnership in aerospace. Her research interests include school-work transition, school-work cooperation, vocational education and training, and the appropriation of vocational knowledge.
walter r. heinz is a professor of sociology and psychology and director of the new international Graduate School of Social Sciences at the University of Bremen, Germany. He was director of the Life Course Research Centre on status passages and social risks in Bremen and visiting chair of European and German studies at the University of Toronto. His research concerns life-course transitions and sequences in the fields of education, training, and employment in a cross-national perspective.
ann kitching was formerly a senior college administrator in Quebec and British Columbia. She maintains her long-standing interest in vocational education and in co-op education. She currently acts as a consultant on post-secondary education policy issues.
zeng lin teaches educational sociology at Illinois State University. He has extensive experience working with large-scale surveys in the area of education and work. His research includes school-work transitions and the future direction of the university. He currently is working on a study of labour-market outcomes for liberal education graduates.
carmen parent holds a doctorate in education from the University of Toronto and is a specialist in the measurement and evaluation of learning. She has been a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal since 1982 and has been responsible for graduate programs at uqam ’ s Department of Educational Sciences since June 1999. She also is a member of the Inter-university Research Group on Education, Training, and Employment (girfe ).
christian payeur is a researcher at the Research Centre for Education and School Success (crires ) and an adjunct professor at Université Laval. He is also director of professional and social services at the headquarters of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec.
tom puk is a professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University. He is currently researching the relationships between student teachers and associate (supervisory) teachers during the practicum, particularly how well inquiry as a teaching-learning strategy is implemented in the classroom. His writings include the development of models of inquiry and experiental education.
hans g. schuetze was formerly a researcher and policy analyst at the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris and is now a professor of higher education at the University of British Columbia. His primary research interests are in the policies, organization, and financing of post-secondary education and training, the relationship of higher education teaching and research and development on regional economic development, and the politics and issues of lifelong learning.
andrew sharpe is founder and executive director of the Ottawabased Centre for the Study of Living Standards. Earlier positions include head of research and editor of the Quarterly Labour Market and Productivity Review at the Canadian Labour Market and Productivity Centre and chief of Business Sector Analysis at the Department of Finance. He is a founder and past editor (1992–98) of the journal Canadian Business Economics and currently edits the International Productivity Monitor. He has written extensively on labour-market, productivity, and living-standard issues.
harry smaller teaches in the Faculty of Education at York University. His research interests include the role of labour in education-work transitions and the development of vocational programs at the secondary level.
robert sweet is a professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University. His current research interests include adult development, educational technology, and instructional design issues in post-secondary education. He has written on apprenticeships, distance education, and the proprietary training sector in Canada.
Integrating School and Workplace Learning in Canada
Integrating School and Workplace Learning in Canada: An Introduction to Alternation Education Concepts and Issues
HANS G. SCHUETZE AND ROBERT SWEET
Globalized trading patterns and the growth of information and communication technologies have forced a restructuring of the economy in Canada, and the impact of these changes has been felt both at educational institutions and in individual workplaces. Rapid economic shifts also have given rise to considerable public concern that the educational system is unable to adequately prepare its graduates for work in the new economy. Demands for renewal are directed at the public school and at the post-secondary level, including the apprenticeship system.
One of the issues raised is the utility of skills and knowledge acquired in schools. Many employers complain that the knowledge and skills possessed by post-secondary graduates are inadequate or irrelevant to the needs of the workplace. On the other hand, private-sector workplace training programs also are criticized as being focused too narrowly on technical skills. The incidence of unemployment and underemployment in the youth labour market suggests the need to critically examine the pedagogical and curricular priorities of the postsecondary system (acst , 2000).
The issue of the relevance of knowledge and skills can be discussed from different perspectives: in terms of knowledge acquisition, the limits on its application, and the need for learners to possess an orientation toward practice (Teichler, 1998). General knowledge is frequently differentiated from specific knowledge. The former is found in lists of “employability skills” that are presumed to incorporate general social
and communicative competencies, intellectual flexibility, and personal initiative. Yet the need for task-specific knowledge is also widely stressed in, for example, specialized trades training or professional education programs, and job-specific skills are rewarded by prospective employers. Knowledge, whether general or specific, must be applied in the identification and solution of problems. It is therefore necessary to possess the capabilities of transferring knowledge or skill to the workplace. Finally, theoretical knowledge needs to be oriented to practice in the sense that it informs activities in the workplace which are only partly expressible in words or symbols, or which may be to some extent automated or made routine. The task of education then is to ensure “systematic confrontation” between ways of thinking and problemsolving within academic or disciplinary theories and the modes of craft or professional thinking and problem-solving found in the workplace (Teichler, 1998).
The second issue of concern in the public debate is the school-work transition. Pathways to meaningful, satisfying, and well-paid employment are today more complex and prolonged. Delays in entering the youth labour market present a significant barrier to career building and consequently to undertaking other developmental tasks of adulthood, such as establishing a family and involving oneself in the life of the community (Lowe, 2000).
Issues of access and equity represent a third area of concern and are directed at the sorting and streaming practices of the public school (kindergarten to grade 12) system. Canada’s secondary school programs tend to favour university-bound students while treating as second-class those whose aptitudes and interests are more applied. This “forgotten half” is not well served by the public education system, and its transition to working life is beset with difficulties (Halperin, 1998). This issue has become especially problematic with the changing structure of labour markets. Jobs that require no more than secondary school–leaving status are being reduced, leaving those without post-secondary education and training to an uncertain and precarious future of contingent and non-standard work (Hamilton, 1990; Frank, 1996).
The educational system has, in fact, responded with significant changes to access policies, increases in program diversity, and greater flexibility in the delivery of programs (cmec , 1999; Skolnik, 1992; Shale, 1999). Despite these changes, schools, universities, and colleges have retained, on the whole, their traditional approach to instruction. Most education and training institutions continue to emphasize cognitive learning and employ direct instruction methods in classroom
settings. The emphasis on classroom learning and its separation fromthe workplace means that much that is learned is decontextualized and only indirectly related to the outside world (Stern, 2002).
Workplace-based learning and, in particular, forms of instruction that combine experiential and cognitive learning represent a promising alternative with which to acquire relevant skills and develop successful pathways from school to work (Rubenson and Schuetze, 1995; Bailey, 1993; Hamilton, 1990, 1993). Such hybrid forms – in which classroom and workplace learning are combined – are often called “alternation.”
the alternation concept
Alternation approaches assume that the context in which knowledge and skills are applied is critical to their acquisition. The principle of alternation emphasizes the notion of “learning by doing,” but in conjunction with and informed by a theoretical understanding of the task or problem at hand. Alternation education thus combines practical skill development with the acquisition of more formally organized, theoretical knowledge. The term “alternation” describes the combination, or integration, of the two principal places and two modes of learning.
Classroom-based cognitive learning and workplace-based experiential learning can be combined in various ways. The apprenticeship is one format in which workplace learning is complemented with regular periods of classroom learning. Other examples include co-op education programs at both high schools and post-secondary educational institutions, where programs of cognitive, school-based learning are combined with practical, “hands-on” learning in the workplace. Here learners are introduced to the routines and rituals of an actual workplace and to the professional codes, values, and norms of an occupation, and are given the opportunity to relate and apply their theoretical knowledge to real-life situations and practical problems. Still other examples of alternation are found in various programs for special groups, such as unemployed or youth-at-risk programs, where the emphasis is not primarily on skill acquisition per se but rather on familiarization with and socialization into the world of work. Wherever applied, alternation aims to encourage individual learning, personal development, and mastery of skills “by moving away from purely school-based forms of knowledge transmission and by seeking an active interrelationship between practical and formal knowledge, between the ‘expertise’ that develops through experience and the capacity of critical thinking that comes from school-based knowledge” (Merle, 1994).
Three main types of alternation education can be distinguished:
• remedial education for young people who are not academically gifted or not interested in school learning beyond completion of compulsory school or after dropping out of school;
• work experience to familiarize young people with work and the “real world”; and
• systematic training for skilled occupations that require expertise based on experience.
Remedial training is aimed at those with low academic interest and/or achievement. It offers them an alternative to the traditional institutions, mechanisms, and pedagogy of education by emphasizing contextual learning in concrete work situations, instead of cognitive learning of abstract ideas, principles, and rules. This remediation approach to the transmission of workplace knowledge is thought not only to facilitate learning by those who are not academically inclined or gifted but also to encourage them to discover their own self-sufficiency and self-esteem and to re-establish the positive self-image and desire to learn that previous educational experiences often have eroded. This learning strategy, originally advocated in order to help either low achievers or disadvantaged minorities, has more recently been proposed in the North American context as an appropriate response to the plight of the “forgotten half” – those youth who are not college or university bound and who have no obvious pathway to stable employment (Hamilton, 1990).
The second group of activities is mainly aimed at familiarizing students with the routines and rituals of the workplace. Examples are work-experience schemes for high school students who spend a short period of time in an organization, or similarly organized cooperative education programs and internships for students in post-secondary education. Besides providing an initial acquaintance for the young person with the world of work, these schemes serve other learning purposes. One is to contextualize knowledge that has been learned in the school setting. Another is to introduce the young person to what has been termed “working knowledge” (Simon, Dippo, and Schenke, 1991). This is an awareness of not only the opportunities for personal growth and social mobility through work but also the constraints imposed by patterns of authority inherent in the organization of firms and institutions.
The primary objective of the third type of alternation training is the acquisition of occupational knowledge. This type is closely associated with apprenticeship training and is seen as essential in occupations for which the workplace is, given the particular nature of the knowledge and skills required, a central place of learning. Such is most obviously
the case for craft occupations, “where know-how is accorded a greater place than formal knowledge, not because the craftsperson can do without formal knowledge, but because the craft of the baker or the goldsmith cannot be learned solely from books” (Merle, 1994). This form of training is not limited to the traditional craft occupations, in which dexterity and physical handling are defining characteristics, but includes others such as the academic professions, where competencies are acquired through long exposure to practice and knowledge. Much of this information is encoded as “tacit” knowledge and passed on by experienced practitioners. Thus, for example, teachers, physicians, and lawyers have traditionally acquired a large part of the knowledge needed for professional practice in a hands-on way and through working under the mentorship of older, more experienced colleagues. Table I.1 summarizes the three types of alternation education and training.
As will be shown in greater detail in this book, examples in Canada exist of all three types. Work experience programs for youth “at risk” provide learning opportunities for students not proceeding to postsecondary studies. Career preparation and cooperative (“co-op”) education are examples of the second type, where familiarization with the conditions of a real workplace is the primary concern. Apprenticeship is the principal form of training in the third category. Workplace-based training in occupations outside apprenticeship trades and practica required as part of professional education are also forms of alternation learning in the third category.
Not all forms of workplace-based learning are formally arranged or organized. Especially in Canada and the United States, another model or pattern that combines school-based education and workplace practice has emerged (Hamilton, 1990, Krahn and Lowe, 1999). For many young people, preparation for work life often takes place through the combination of a paid work experience with ongoing education. Besides the widespread experience of paid work during summer vacations, there is a growing propensity on the part of young people to move back and forth between some type of formal education and paid work until they are “settled” in a stable job. Learning takes place through “a continuous and almost parallel process of movement through both the educational system and the labor market as young people seek to establish themselves in a career and as employers seek to recruit the products of such a system into their internal labor markets” (Ashton and Lowe, 1991: 240). Learning or training (if the latter term is appropriate at all in this context) during this period of “milling around” by young people is mostly fortuitous and follows an unsystematic and unorganized pattern of alternation; thus it lacks the principal characteristics of the other three models. For this reason, it is not included here in the further analysis of alternation models.
Table i.1
Main types and functions of alternation training models
Alternative educational route
Purposesocial integration and remediation of knowledge
Target population the “forgotten half,” i.e., not-college-bound youth; minorities and other “at-risk” youth
Work experience as familiarization with world of work
appreciation of schoolbased education by relating it to application in the workplace; tentative work socialization
high school students; college/university students
Learning objectives to provide know-how and self-esteem through hands-on learning of practical skills
Learning methods learning by socialization; contextual learning in concrete work situations
Workplace as a central place of learning
acquisition of vocational (professional) attitudes, skills, and knowledge
apprentices in various occupations; trainees or workers in other, nonapprenticeable occupations; trainees in legal, health, and other fields of applied science
through familiarization with workplace, to contextualize knowledge learned in school to acquire both formal and codified and non-formal and noncodified knowledge, as well as technical, social, and learning skills and competencies
validating school-based knowledge by applying it in concrete work situations
Canadian examples work experience for “at-risk” students
career-preparation programs; cooperative education
combining theoretical and practical learning; transmission of explicit and tacit knowledge and competencies through learning by doing, mentored, corrected, and evaluated by older, experienced colleagues and “masters”
apprenticeship training; other types of workplace training for nonapprenticeable trades and qualifications
As a response to the need for an effective bridge between education and work, the alternation concept holds considerable promise. Evidence of its potential to develop in learners a base of relevant and broadly applicable knowledge and skills derives largely from recent educational and psychological research and from successful implementation of alternation models in other countries.
While the practice of alternation learning has deep historical roots, the systematic integration of classroom- and workplace-based learning is a relatively recent innovation. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has focused on how knowledge is constructed and on the role that context and environment play in determining its use. This research underpins the principle of dual-place learning. Rather than seeing knowledge as abstract, new theoretical concepts – in particular, notions of situated cognition or situated learning – emphasize the physical environment and social context of knowledge and learning (Rubenson and Schuetze, 1995).
Classroom learning, typically based on theoretical concepts and selfcontained examples, takes place in a setting that does not resemble any workplace situation. This “discontinuity” between abstract learning at school and its application outside the classroom is why many researchers consider schooling to be dysfunctional (Raizen, 1994). In particular, school-based learning disadvantages those students who, because of personal disposition or choice, are not motivated to pursue general and procedural knowledge or engage in abstract and symbolic thinking. This is primarily a problem of “at-risk” students, such as those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, those from certain minority groups, and those lacking social capital and proficiency in English or French. The limitations of school-based learning also concern a much larger group – those non-college-bound students who, particularly in North America, find that there are few opportunities for pursuing school-based vocational or workplace training (Raizen, 1994; Hamilton, 1990). While closer ties between school and workplace are essential to a meaningful vocational curriculum, the value of the school-work relationship has also been recognized at the post-secondary level. The most prominent examples are university coop education programs (see Grosjean in this volume).
The assumption that situated or contextualized instruction is a critical factor in promoting student motivation and learning is based on five premises (Raizen, 1994; Rubenson and Schuetze, 1995):
• It is not sufficient to teach knowledge and procedures; instruction must also focus on the application of the knowledge and the skills being learned.
• Individuals come to any learning experience with prior knowledge and experience, which may either facilitate or impede the intended learning; therefore any learning experience must take into account what the learner brings to it.
• Learners in a workplace are actively involved in their own learning, even as they are provided models of expert performance to emulate. However, for systematic learning to occur, they need coaching, performance-based evaluation, and error correction, arranged to “fade” so that they become autonomous and independent.
• Instruction and learning in a workplace setting intermingle context and domain specificity and generality. Being integrated in the actual work process, learners are forced, and must be taught, to develop strategies for controlling their own performance – setting goals, planning, checking work and monitoring progress, and revising their course. Most important, learners need to develop strategies for applying their competencies in a context different from the one in which they learned them, and for acquiring additional knowledge and expertise.
• Learning experiences in a workplace setting enculturate the learner into the community of practice in a given domain or occupation, so that the individual will come to understand the physical, conceptual, symbolic, and social tools of the community and their uses and will become a contributing and valued member.
The way in which students learn and develop through work experience has also been conceptualized as a combination of “vertical” and “horizontal” development. Guile and Griffiths (1999) argue that the separation of students’ vertical development – that is, the individual progress toward greater levels of abstraction and decontextualization – and their horizontal development – the process of change and situational learning that occurs in a person as he or she moves from one context to another – is artificial, gives priority to school-based learning over other types and places of learning, and leaves the student to integrate the separate bodies of knowledge. Instead of seeing them as separate and distinct, they argue, there is a need to develop curricula frameworks and learning situations to encourage and enable the student to make links between work experience, its underlying knowledge and skill, and its cultural, social, and technological context (116).
transitions
Much of the recent interest in alternation approaches (oecd , 2000) assumes that they are better able to facilitate the transition between school and work by providing a more discernible initial employment pathway for young people. Figure I.1 illustrates alternative transition routes from school to working life. These comprise
School
primary school secondary school
university-level education
college-level training and private training institutions
Employment
job = related training
•(adult) apprenticeship training
•other employersponsored training
•informal on-thejob training
vocational programs
(youth) apprenticeship training
unstructured work experience, combined with some education and training – “floundering period”
no education/training
• school-based post-secondary education and training, that is, university-level education and college-level training;
• workplace-based vocational education and training in the form of (youth) apprenticeships;
• the unstructured work experience, combined with some education or training – the “milling around” or “floundering” period that was mentioned above; and
• finally, the direct transition from secondary school to work without any additional education or training.
In this system, there are two principal transitions. The first is from school to a post-secondary institution, a transition which, in many cases, is difficult since access is regulated by rather rigid entry requirements. Most college career-technical programs, for example, demand high school graduation as an entry qualification. Post-secondary access is further complicated when the preparation for and choices among available program options are not sufficiently transparent and when signals from schools, parents, and the labour market are unclear or
Figure i.1
Transition routes from school to work
even contradictory (Heinz, 1991; Sweet, Anisef, and Lin, 2000). This lack of clear transition signposts is seen by some analysts as part of a more general loosening of societal values and structures and of institutional patterns, which has the effect of giving individuals a broader range of choices. Greater autonomy and individual responsibility often make difficult the task of selecting the most appropriate institution, program, or field of study. This perspective on the educational transition process – often framed in terms of “risk” and “agency” – is based on a postmodern view of society which holds that the traditional institutions and cultural norms of the industrial society and welfare state are no longer functional. Social structures have therefore lost much of their influence on the life course, including matters such as educational and career aspirations and choices (Krahn and Lowe 1999; Furlong and Cartmel, 1997).
The second transitional task of finding suitable employment after the completion (or discontinuation) of post-secondary education and training is equally, or even more, difficult. Research on school-work transitions in the 1990s (e.g., Krahn, 1996; Marquardt, 1996) indicates the complexities of this transition. Throughout the last decade, many graduates did not find work for which they had prepared, or they did not possess appropriate qualifications for those jobs that were available. And many graduates found themselves working in jobs for which they were overqualified (Anisef et al., 1996).
Some of these problems have to do with changes in the labour market and are thus independent of individual knowledge and skills. Many of the difficulties that young people have with the second transition are due to their lack of job-relevant skills. And to some considerable extent, this may be attributed to their education and training having been poorly articulated with actual job skill requirements. This mismatch involves not just technical but also social skills and personal dispositions that influence their ability to define and solve problems, to work in teams, and to adapt to new tasks and changing work organization (acst , 2000). Employers’ views (such as those cited by Grubb, 1999) reflect a general dissatisfaction with what young workers bring to the job from school because the skills learned in school are seen to be too general and too theory-oriented to be relevant in the workplace, at least in the entry-level positions for which young people arehired.
As a response to both the perceived lack of workplace-relevant skills and attitudes and the uncertainties of the transition process, alternation models attempt to bridge the different cultures of school and work – the one emphasizing theoretical and disciplinary learning and the other comprising learning in the context of actual production.
This link with the culture of work makes the alternation approach more than just a means of acquiring job-relevant skills and knowledge. It also involves a process of occupational socialization and contributes to the development of personal identity (Raffe, 1994; Hamilton, 1990; Bailey, 1993).
economic and sociological theories of vocational education and training
It has been argued that the narrow, individualistic, and technical conception of human capital theory is inadequate to capture the particular features of the new, knowledge-based economy; further, that it cannot explain the elements and dynamics of the skill formation process. Ashton (1999: 349), for example, argues that new forms of production and post-Fordist workplaces “demand a new approach to skill formation, one that recognizes the essentially social character of skill formation.” He suggests that the concept of social capital may offer a better explanation of the process of learning skills for the new knowledge-based economy. Fevre, Rees, and Gorard (1999) similarly argue that human capital theory erroneously assumes that people make training (and other) decisions solely on the basis of instrumental, utilitarian reasoning. In contrast, more comprehensive sociological theories take into account the historical, geographical, cultural, and social factors that prompt people to engage in organized learning.
There is considerable evidence that these broader sociological perspectives provide greater insight in the analysis of the processes of skill formation and the transition of young people into working life. This alternative perspective considers the expanded content of workplace skills, which increasingly include communication and teamwork abilities, as well as aptitudes and attitudes such as motivation, responsibility, and initiative. It also widens the focus with regard to the institutional fabric of skill formation. This includes the role of partnerships between schools and enterprises, of effective personal relationships between the key players, and of networking, information sharing, and the building of trust in these interactions (oecd , 2000; Bowers, Sonnet, and Bardone, 1999; Stern, 1999).
This requirement for trust will become even more pronounced in the future. In the knowledge-based society, toward which we are so quickly moving, education and learning will need to be understood, designed, implemented, and managed differently from the ways of the twentieth-century industrial economy and society. New patterns of learning will be less formal, less visible, and less structured than
formerly. They will be more centred on the learner’s needs and demands, and will use knowledge from many sources available through the Internet, remote tutoring and counselling, and spontaneous or sustained networks of knowledge exchange (Caspar, 2002). In such a complex new world of learning, traditional venues, especially academic campuses and classrooms, are losing their exclusivity. They are rapidly becoming only one of many places and modes of learning. Alternation between these various places and modes throughout one’s working (and non-working) life is characteristic of a true system of lifelong learning (Rubenson and Schuetze, 2000). A theory of participation in this kind of learning must take into account the many social and cultural factors, including class, gender, ethnicity, geography, and age, which influence the decisions of individuals to engage and invest in learning throughout the life course (Fevre, Rees, and Gorard, 1999).
alternation education in canada
Following this introduction to the concept of alternation, the various chapters in this book are presented in two parts. The first establishes a context by describing the operating principles and practices of alternation in three jurisdictions: Germany, Quebec, and the rest of Canada. In each of these, various forms of alternation education, programs, and structures are organized differently, and these differences underscore the importance of attending to social and historical antecedents in developing policies for the successful implementation of alternation programs. The inclusion of a chapter focusing on a non-Canadian jurisdiction is explained by the fact that Germany’s “dual system” of apprenticeship is seen by many foreign analysts as particularly successful in providing a clear vocational pathway for young people and, at the same time, an efficient skill-formation system (e.g., Hamilton, 1990, 1993; Bailey, 1993; Bowers, Sonnet, and Bardone, 1999; oecd , 2000). It is not suggested that this highly regulated and institutionalized system could as such serve as a model for Canada. However, Walter Heinz’s insightful and critical account of the German apprenticeship system informs the Canadian discussion as the author shows the close connection between training and production systems, and the growing tensions within this traditional form of preparing young people for the world of work. As the world economy faces change – affecting Germany as much as the rest of the developed world – the apprenticeship system there is undergoing important changes in order to remain a viable alternative to the school-based, post-secondary option. All these issues are relevant to the discussion of alternation in Canada.
The two other chapters in part 1 elaborate developments in Quebec and the rest of Canada. This division is not to suggest that Quebec is no longer an integral part of Canada. However, the educational policies and institutional fabric of that province are clearly distinctive, and a separate account seems justified, even required, to understand the particular approach in Quebec to the preparation of young people for work life. After an overview of the development of apprenticeship training in the province, Christian Payeur, Nancy Émond, and Laurier Caron analyze the attempt to create a new apprenticeship system in the mid-1990s and assess the reasons for its failure. This case study is particularly interesting; it shows that, unlike pure, school-based systems, “dual” systems cannot be designed and successfully implemented without a consensus as to purpose among the main stakeholders – the employers, the unions, and the educational institutions. Successful collaboration also requires a perception of “ownership.” The chapter provides evidence for the embeddedness of training systems in their social and institutional contexts, the constraints of different agendas held by the various stakeholders, and the implications for policy-makers who do not take sufficient account of them.
In his overview of the system in the rest of Canada, Hans Schuetze provides examples of education and training programs that exemplify the typology of alternation types presented earlier in this introduction. He argues that, despite many attempts to revitalize youth apprenticeship and other forms of alternation training, there is a general lack of public acceptance, which explains why workplace-based programs have remained relatively undeveloped. The low esteem in which vocational and technical education is held in Canada is based on a bias toward academic studies and the fact that workplace-based training historically was aimed at low achievers and the difficult-to-employ. Coop education is an exception. It is the only really successful application of the principle of alternation in Canada, probably because it is embedded inthe recognized and valued post-secondary system of colleges and universities.
In part 2, the authors examine the implementation of alternation programs at various levels of the Canadian educational system and in the workplace. These include public schools, colleges, universities, and apprenticeships. The subsection on school-level alternation begins with Harry Smaller’s account of the development of vocational education in Ontario, a province whose educational history illustrates the resilience of class and gender divisions. Established at the turn of the century to educate the children of the working poor and immigrant groups, vocational schools were distinguished from the academic institutions that served the more fortunate classes. The initial curricular arrangements
that differentiated so sharply between vocational and academic streams remain to this day. However, the current student body (whatever its background) is less inclined to select the vocational option, and attempts to motivate young people in this direction have simply failed. Smaller develops his response to the need for greater involvement in vocational education around three principles: the bridging of the mental-manual divide, a critique of the social bias that still characterizes access to these programs, and finally, their “re-engineering” to make them more attractive to youth.
The disinterest of high school graduates in a vocational career, especially one involving apprenticeship training, is also evident in the data that Lesley Andres presents. They confirm the low level of participation in apprenticeship training and, additionally, obvious genderbased differences in both participation and choice of trades. Andres indicates that the unfavourable reaction to the apprenticeship option can, in part, be attributed to the influence of high school teachers and counsellors on students’ educational and career choices. It is reasonable to assume that the tendency of these critical “gate keepers” to encourage students to enrol in academic and school-based programs reflects their own academic background and their lack of familiarity with alternation-based education and training programs. The aversion to vocational career does not, however, extend to the notion of applied learning and work experience. Andres notes that co-op education programs are eagerly anticipated by graduates.
Marcelle Hardy and Carmen Parent examine school-workplace collaboration in the province of Quebec. They note that some of the mostdifficult problems that arise in sustaining partnerships between schools and the business community involve differences among individuals – business sponsors, individual teachers, and administrative staff. These are a useful reminder of why reform of apprenticeship training and vocational education has been so slow and frustrating. The uneasy partnership between schools and companies – based partly on different objectives, perspectives, and forms of organizational priority-setting and decision-making – is a challenge to the formation of a working relationship between the two sectors. Acknowledging that it is difficult to forge such a partnership on a mutually beneficial and sustainable level does not mean that it is impossible, and the examples provided by Hardy and Parent testify to the value of persistence.
Alternation is not new to the colleges. In the chapter that follows, Paul Gallagher and Anne Kitching first offer a brief history of the community colleges’ involvement with field studies and work experience, before describing the current status and future direction of alternation at the college level. They chronicle a number of innovations in
co-op education programming, including service co-ops that extend the experience of students beyond the trades and technology sectors. Applied learning programs also represent an important development in the curricular integration of “real life” problems that anchor the students’ learning in the issues and concerns of the workplace. Establishing a strong link between college and business and industry is key to the success of student school-to-work transitions. Looking to the future, Gallagher and Kitching see the colleges’ greatest challenge as one of modifying their programs to respond to the unique needs of working people who are continually upgrading their skills. The college system should, however, be able to respond to this work-to-school transition by building on its long-standing relationship with the business community.
Three chapters discuss aspects of alternation learning at the university level. Garnet Grosjean shows that co-op education programs are a popular choice among university students since they provide them not only with a salary but also with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the world of work and to apply their “paper knowledge” to real-life situations and problems. Such programs also are popular with employers since the temporary placement of students, especially when they are advanced in their studies, is an excellent source of fresh perspectives and new ideas. And the placement serves as a probationary period during which employers can screen the students as potential employees. Grosjean’s case study of co-op students in one Canadian university shows the ways that students experience their placement with companies in terms of learning which complements their cognitive learning on campus and leads to greater personal growth.
Tom Puk traces the development of the relationship between classroom learning and its application in the field by pre-service teachers. The focus of this chapter is on the reasons for a disjunction between the university study of teaching and its application during the practicum. A second concern of the chapter is the necessity for reform and innovation in classroom teaching. The author ascribes the perceived gap in student teachers’ preparation as stemming, in part, from the irrelevance of their professors’ research interests and the normative culture of the school system, which resists innovation, whatever its source. Puk proposes a model that would address the issues of university-school separation and improve teaching and learning in school classrooms.
Paul Axelrod, Paul Anisef, and Zeng Lin attempt to bridge the divide between liberal and vocational education in the universities. First appealing to John Dewey’s interpretation of vocational education as one that incorporates the substance of the liberal arts and then
demonstrating the value of an integrated curriculum through workexperience programs, the authors argue for a change in attitude and practice in the academy. They also discuss the importance of altering the instructional design of university teaching to include a greater emphasis on problem-based learning and cooperative education models. Both, they assert, contribute to students’ involvement, and both anticipate the types of conditions they will encounter in the high-skills workplace.
In a subsection devoted to the workplace, apprenticeships are explored with, first, a profile and analysis of current trends in registration and completion, from which implications as to the health of the apprenticeship are drawn. This review is followed by a study of the system’s response to demands by women for improved access to nontraditional trades. The analysis that Andrew Sharpe provides in his chapter on apprenticeship training in Canada clearly demonstrates that the system is in crisis. Enrolment and completion statistics show that apprenticeships are in general decline. A particular shortcoming of the system is its inability to attract women to the trades. Sharpe does provide some cause for optimism: there is evidence of a modest increase in participation among the younger age groups. And his analysis shows significant regional differences in the number of both registrations and completions, which suggest that regional structures and public policy exert some influence.
While women have made considerable progress in achieving equity in the workforce and have greatly increased their level of participation in post-secondary education, apprenticeships remain highly segregated by gender. Apprenticeship training in Canada is almost exclusively a male domain. Robert Sweet, in his chapter, shows that this situation has a number of structural causes, especially the maintenance of traditionally male apprenticeships, the concentration of females in no more than a handful of trades, and the limited success of attracting female apprentices into “non-traditional” – that is, predominantly male – trades. While the basis for women’s choice of non-traditional trades involves socialized preferences as well as a rational calculation of returns to investment in training, the rewards for completing a non-traditional apprenticeship are considerable.
The goal of this volume is to stimulate further thought and discussion on the role of alternation in renewing the relationship between education and work. The authors have addressed many of the relevant issues of theory, policy, and practice. Several questions nevertheless remain to be answered. In the concluding chapter, Robert Sweet and Hans Schuetze outline some of the research implications that derive from the authors’ insights. All the contributors indicate the need for
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“You say that the Don loves Mary. Then wouldn’t it be sad if Lucy loved him? And you tell me that Mary loves the Don. Now wouldn’t it be too bad if the Don loved Lucy? Ought not true love to run smooth if it can?”
Alice fixed her eyes upon Charley’s, and scanned his features long and intently. There was nothing to be seen there save a smile that was almost infantile in its sweetness and simplicity. “Do you think I am handsome?” asked he, languidly. “They tell me I am good.”
“Do you know, Mr. Frobisher, I sometimes think you know more about the— There she goes, and he after her!”
“Mr. Poythress,” Mary had said, laughing, “my defence of Byron has made my throat dry.”
“Nor did it lack much of making our eyes moist,” replied he, with a courtly inclination of his patrician head.
“Let me get you a glass of water,” interrupted the Don, moving towards the door.
“Ah, thank you, never mind.” And rising hastily, she made for the door with a precipitancy that vexed Alice; for she saw in it a pointed indication of unwillingness on Mary’s part to accept even this little service at the hands of the Don. She moved so rapidly that she had passed in at the door before the Don could reach it; but he, whether or not he interpreted her motives as Alice did, followed her within the house. Instantly the cloud that had passed over Alice’s face was gone, and a sudden smile shone forth. She sprang to her feet. “Why do we tarry here all the day? It is moved and seconded that we adjourn to the Hall. Fall in, company! Attention! Shoulder—I mean seize arms!” And skipping away from Charley, she laid hands upon Mr. Poythress (“You take Mrs. Poythress,” she had whispered to Charley; “that will make them all come”), and away they marched down the steps and across the lawn, towards the Hall, Alice leading with her rataplan, rataplan, and enacting a sort of combination of captain, drum-major, and vivandière.
Nothing so much delighted our slaves, in those days, as any jollity on the part of their masters. Happy and careless themselves, when they saw their betters unbend they realized more clearly, perhaps, that they were men and brothers.
“Lord ’a’ mussy!” cried Aunt Polly at the kitchen door, letting fall a dish-cloth.
“What dat, gal?” carelessly asked Uncle Dick, who sat breakfasting in his usual stately and leisurely fashion. Aunt Polly made no reply, being seized with a sudden paroxysm which caused her to collapse into half her normal stature. Straightening herself out again, and wiping her eyes with her apron, “Oh, Lord, how long!” she ejaculated, giving the door-sill two simultaneous flaps with slippers that were a world too wide. “What’s a-comin’ next? dat’s all I wants to know.” And she began to rock to and fro. Seeing her for the second time telescope into a three-foot cook:
“What de matter wid de gal?” said Uncle Dick, rising with dignity, and wiping his rather unctuous lips.
“’Fore Gaud,” cried his spouse, “I do b’lieve dat chile gwine to make everybody at Elmin’ton crazy befo’ she done. Mussiful heaven, jess look at ole mahrster, and he a-steppin’ high as a colt, and Miss Alice a-struttin’ jess like she had on a ridgimental unicorn, and a-backin’ and a-linin’ of ’em up wid her parasol! Forrard, march! Jess lissen at her sojer talk, and ain’t she a pretty little critter? No wonder Marse Charley ravin’ ’stracted ’bout her. Lor’, Dick, let de boy look!”
Zip, by a dextrous ducking of his head, had just evaded the sweeping palm of his chief. “What is dese young niggers a-comin’ to?” exclaimed this virtuous personage. “Boy, don’t you see dem flies.” And he pointed to the table he had just left. “And you a-gapin’ at de white folks, ’stid o’ mindin’ your business!”
One of the perquisites of Zip’s position as junior butler was waving a feather brush over the bald head of his senior when he sat at meat. Dick had elected him to this office on the plea of fotchin’ of him up
in the way he should go; and, being a strict disciplinarian, had resented his abandoning the post of duty without orders.
Zip made a perfunctory dash, with his brush, at the flies,—whom, by the way, he somewhat resembled in disposition; for as you shall not ruffle the temper, or even hurt the feelings of one of these, during your afternoon nap, by a slap, be it ever so violent and contumelious, if it but miss him; so Zip-Moses accounted all blows that failed to reach that anvil-shaped head of his not as insults and injuries, but clear gain rather. Zip, therefore, was not long in finding his way back, on tiptoe, to where he could get a glimpse of what was going forward on the lawn; even as that reckless insect blanches not as he tickles the somnolent nose of a blacksmith; for hath he not his weather eye upon the doughty fist of his foe?
“Left face!” cried Alice; “forward, file right, march!” And her company went tumbling with bursts of laughter up the steps and into the Hall.
Lucy took her seat at the piano.
“Why, where is the Don?” asked my grandfather, looking round.
“Lucy has a new solo for us,” said Alice,—“perhaps,—” added she, conscience-stricken.
“Oho!” cried Mr. Whacker, settling himself.
“What new solo?” asked Lucy.
“That what do you call it?” replied Alice, rather vaguely.
“The Sonata I have been learning?”
“Oh, yes; that’s what we want.”
Lucy struck the opening chords and began.
Charley leaned carelessly forward and whispered in Alice’s ear,—
“Thisis a solo; that?” And he nodded slightly in the direction of the house.
“A duet. What did you think of my manœuvre?”
“Immense!”
