TITLE: Economic Council of Canada

The traditional model, in which “schooling” and “work” were quite distinct activities, is obsolete. The “learning continuum” conveys the notion of learning as a continuing process... “lifelong learning”, “recurrent education”, or “further education and training”.

In this new model, learning is an integral dimension of work. “a surprisingly high proportion of both high-school and university graduates in our samples remained in the educational system after graduation. What distinguishes graduates in the 1980s from those in earlier decades are these diverse combinations of education and work”. To be able to continue to learn, of course, people must have a solid base of “foundation” skills... literacy and numeracy. p.16

Vocational programs - our main focus here - are of great importance because of their direct implications for competitiveness and because demographic trends in the labour force put a premium on adult learning.

Two examples [based on Figure 10, p.17] of lack of coherence are illustrated... First, the broken lines from secondary school programs to the postsecondary apprenticeship stream and from vocational secondary schools to college reflect our conclusion that there is insufficient ‘articulation’ - a lack of clear pathways, linkages and accreditation between these various elements of the continuum... (Not seen in the figure, however, are some innovative ways of promoting vocational learning at various levels - namely partnerships, dealt with later on.)

Indeed, one of the key observations here is that Canada lacks institutional mechanisms to ensure that labour-market signals are clearly transmitted and correctly read by individuals and the learning institutions. p.17

Index

1. Vocational Education in the Secondary Schools

One of our principal conclusions is that the options for the nonacademic student have been neglected and that the general disrepute in which vocational programs are held is damaging. Partly, the problem is one of misplaced expectations: most parents, and students themselves, aspire to prestigious positions via university or college... Many youngsters do... find their niche in well-paying trades and technical positions after more or less fruitlessly dabbling in postsecondary courses and/or part-time jobs. Under the German system, they would probably have found well-paid jobs quickly and at less cost to society. pp. 17-18

A recent research paper by Employment and Immigration Canada... while every province except Newfoundland has vocational programs in secondary school, only 10 per cent of Canadian students are enrolled in them.

... it appears that in Ontario enrolments in “technological studies” - which include such subjects as drafting, construction, and electrical and television repairs - have declined as a proportion of overall enrolments during the period 1985-88 ... similar ... for Alberta ... Particularly striking is the case of Quebec ... declined from 18.0 per cent in 1976-77 to 4.6 per cent in 1988-89... p.18

Why:

the programs tend to be geared towards high-risk students and/or low achievers;
the staff of vocational schools frequently do not have advanced formal qualifications;
postsecondary institutions often do not accept vocational subjects as credits;
the formal links between secondary school vocational programs and apprenticeship programs are uneven and incomplete;
a secondary school’s success is often judged by how well it prepares students for university rather than by how well it prepares them for the labour market;
Canadian society ascribes a lower socio-economic status to blue-collar jobs;
guidance counselors estimate that some 95 per cent of Grade 10 students aspire to university entrance - an unrealistic expectation that is often reinforced by parents;
career counselors are frequently ill-informed about the content and prospects of jobs of the 1990s.
Nevertheless, more must be done to improve the image of vocational education and training. In particular, where secondary school level apprenticeships are offered, they should be coordinated with the regular postsecondary apprenticeship system. p.18

Index

2. Colleges

In Canada, approximately 200 publicly funded community colleges and CEGEPS... Enrolment in the system expanded rapidly in the late1970s and early 1980s, leveled off later in the decade, and is now rising again. Of 321,000 full-time and 187,000 part-time students, about two thirds are in career programs (as opposed to university transfer programs). p.18

One curious aspect of the system is that, during a period of rapid technological change, enrolment in technology courses has actually declined in recent years. For Canada as a whole, enrolments in engineering and applied science as a proportion of all enrolments feel (by 25 per cent) between 1983 and 1989.

Why? In part, reflect poor image of vocational education generally, and technological studies in particular at the secondary school level. A study of... Ontario colleges points to reduced numbers of secondary school leavers qualified in mathematics and sciences...

The most recent figures suggest that the trend may have bottomed out... p.19

But given labour-market realities, the colleges must seek out new, innovative ways to contribute to the planning, design, and implementation of vocational courses, in direct collaboration with local employers and the wider community... Mohawk College... offers numerous courses tailored to the needs of local employers and is now experimenting with ‘distance’ education (e.g. courses delivered by television or through audio or video cassettes, etc.)... The British Columbia Institute of Technology has developed a training partnership agreement with B.C. Tel that explicitly recognizes the company’s in-house training by conferring credits towards four of the college’s certificate programs. p. 19

Local businesses transfer recent technology to the colleges by providing machinery, equipment and staff; and the colleges train technicians to work in the local industries.

While... exceptions - Quebec and British Columbia are examples - ‘articulation’ is often one of those problems. That is, preparation for, and transfer of credits to university is too often unsystematic...

Even less is known about the burgeoning private-sector vocational system... about 1,000 private colleges... about 350 are either members of a provincial association and/or are designated as institutions eligible for the Canada Student Loan Plan. p.19

Private colleges have higher per-course fees, but course duration is shorter... so income forgone is less... boasting a significantly higher placement rate.

Clearly, a great deal further research is required to assess the relative performance of public and private colleges. p. 20

Index

3. Apprenticeship

A number of recent reports... called for reform of the apprenticeship system.... the recent National Apprenticeship Survey (conducted by Statistics Canada on behalf of Employment and Immigration Canada)... Canadian apprentices are old, by international standards; in addition, only 12 per cent of enrolments in 1986-87 were female and only 41 per cent of program completers were awarded inter-provincial standards certificates. p.20

a) National Standards and Costs

.. two issues worthy of consideration. First has to do with national standards and mobility... Employers have few guarantees of consistent standards; and for the apprentices themselves the system inevitably limits mobility.

The Inter-provincial Standards Program (also known as the Red Seal program) was established in 1959 to promote national standards in provincial apprenticeship training programs... the number of occupational trade granting Red Seals to more than 50 per cent of their graduates have been few. p.20

Second, comparisons are often made with Germany’s much-vaunted ‘dual’ system of apprenticeship... smaller proportion of Canadian workers in apprenticeship and the greater relative cost of the Canadian system.

b) Responsiveness of the Apprenticeship System

From existing employment data... employment growth ... 1967-89, the annual average employment growth rates were:

manufacturing 1.0%

construction 1.9%

‘dynamic’ services * 3.2%

traditional services 3.2%

non-market services 3.3%

* dynamic = transport and communications; utilities; finance, insurance and real estate; and business services

Throughout the 1980s, however, more than 90 per cent of the occupations covered by apprenticeship pertained to manufacturing, construction, or traditional services. Should one conclude that the apprenticeship system is oriented to employment in shrinking sectors....? Are knowledge- and technology-intensive occupations unsuitable for apprenticeship? p.22

Of the 84 occupations considered, correlations with general labour-market demand conditions for the period 1974-1987 revealed only two occupations - service-station attendants and radio/television technicians - for which responsiveness could be regarded as ‘good’... The analysis suggests that little attempt was made to synchronize the supply of apprentices with the demand of employers for occupational workers. p.22

Index

C - CONTINUOUS SKILL UPGRADING

Perhaps the most underrated form of continuous learning is informal self-instruction by individual persons. The widespread acquisition of basic computer skills by a large segment of the population in the past decade testifies to this.

But what are the skills demanded in the rapidly evolving industrial world? The articulation of such needs is a crucial component of coherence... p.22

1. Skills Needs and Employers’ Responses

The problems of illiteracy, innumeracy, and lack of other basic skills are frequently cited as barriers to productivity increase and effective human resource development... Conference Board survey... 70% of Cdn business indicate illiteracy a problem in their operations

Next it appears that employers experience difficulties in obtaining certain technical skills. A telephone survey of 822 high-tech firms... 54% reported problems in recruiting and retaining professional, scientific and technical staff; 34%... skilled labour... Many employers laid some of the blame for this on the education system. For example, some 24 per cent found universities less than adequate... 58% found elementary and secondary schools lacking pp. 22-23

Moreover, a disturbing finding is that most high-tech training goes to employees who are already highly skilled; the most common kind of training among the reporting firms was for professional and management categories. p.23

Index

2. Employer-Based Training

Where is it performed? Some insight from Statistic’s Canada’s Human Resource Training and Development survey (HRTD)

… small firms are the largest employer, but only 27% conduct training while 76% of large firms do so; as a motivation fewer than 25% of small firms identified new technologies as source of skill need

only 15% of firms have special training budget - 13% for small and 59% for large firms and large firms (1% of all firms) account for 45% of all training expenditures

While, somewhat surprisingly, all firms were familiar with at least one program of EIC’s Canadian Job Strategy, 58% of small companies (against 40% of large firms) said they would not use any program again. p.23

Index

3. A Role for ‘Distance’ Education

In the matter of continuous skill upgrading, there is scope for major contributions to the learning continuum through the alternate delivery mechanisms represented by ‘distance’ education.... largely untapped

We note that TV Ontario recently submitted a proposal for an ‘Ontario Skills Training Channel’ - a 24 hour television channel dedicated to the teaching of a wide variety of professional and generic skills. p.24

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