By Ben Hart
Toronto, Ontario — April 30, 2019 — As a post-secondary instructor, I am often baffled by the confusion around how apprenticeship programs work in our industry. I believe most people understand the basics—someone wants to join the trade, so they start working in a shop. Eventually, the employee signs up for an apprenticeship, works a number of hours then goes away to school a number of times. Eventually, this person gets a fancy piece of paper with his or her name on it and can be called a journeyman.
Okay, so what else is there to know? Well, quite a bit, actually.
An apprentice will typically attend four levels of technical training for a period of about two months each. The rest of the year the apprentice is expected to learn on the job. Most schools find that the expectations of training are placed almost exclusively on the institution. When looking at the hours spent on the job versus at the school, it is estimated that the apprentice should be learning upwards of 85 percent on the job. The school is responsible for rounding off the apprentice’s remaining 15 percent.
For one thing, employers are contractually obligated to provide training to their apprentices and allow him or her to attend technical training classes.
Let me back up a fair bit and talk about the history of the apprenticeship system. The auto body and collision branch was officially designated as a Red Seal trade in 1964. The refinishing portion is covered within this branch, but can also be pursued independently via the automotive refinishing technician branch—which was designated in 1992. Most Provinces consider both branches to be compulsory, meaning that anyone working in the trade must either be a licensed journeyman, technician or registered apprentice.
Across the country, anyone interested in entering the trade basically has two main options. Option one is to start working in a shop, and then sign a contract of apprenticeship and work towards becoming a journeyman. Option two is to attend a technical school that provides a pre-employment type course. Upon graduating, the person can be hired by a shop and start his or her apprenticeship, often with credit for the first year of apprenticeship.
Each province has its own apprenticeship program which is governed by a board often overseen by an elected member of the provincial parliament. With this, each province has the ability to adapt the programs as needed—and while this allows for some flexibility, it has also led to considerable grief. For some apprentices who start their training in one province, continuing it after moving can be anything but a smooth transition.
One of the national requirements is that all provinces work toward the Red Seal standard. There is a Red Seal initiative called Harmonization that aims to homogenize more aspects of most trades—particularly for training.
Within our trade, the goal is to complete the implementation by September 2020.
For more information please contact your province’s apprenticeship governing body and visit red-seal.ca.
To learn a bit more about apprenticeship programs across the country, follow the links below.
