B.C. students learn trades secrets early

Students in schools all across British Columbia are getting a jump on exciting, high-demand careers in everything from the motion picture industry to plumbing – thanks to new programs and new funding for trades training from the provincial government.

As early as Grade 6, students are finding out about the advantages of learning a trade. And by the time they graduate, some have started their apprenticeships, and are well on their way to a well-paid career with their pick of jobs.

“Getting a head start in an in-demand career while completing high school is a smart move,” Education Minister Shirley Bond said while visiting a culinary arts class at Salmon Arm secondary school. “By giving students access to high-quality trades training in B.C. secondary schools, we’re making high school relevant to all students – not just those interested in going to university.”

A variety of programs

The Ministry of Education has worked with the Industry Training Authority to create a variety of skills training programs offered in B.C. schools.

The Accelerated Credit Enrolment in Industry Training – called ACE IT for short – gives high school students credit towards both high school graduation and towards the completion of an apprenticeship or industry training program. These programs are developed and offered in partnerships between school districts and post-secondary institutions.

Courses are offered in a variety of areas including electronics, carpentry, cabinet-making, hairstyling, plumbing, graphic arts, and the motion picture and theatre industries. Students can begin coursework for apprenticeships that will qualify them at a provincial level or nationally.

With a new program announced in February, students are being introduced to trades at an earlier age. YES 2 IT, which stands for Youth Exploring Skills to Industry Training, showcases the trades for students in grades 6 through 9. The Province partnered with the Industry Training Authority to launch this $1.4-million program.

Funding for equipment

In April, the Minister of Education announced an investment of $3 million to buy trades training equipment in B.C. As a result, high schools will be able to expand their skilled trades programs, and districts will be encouraged to start specialized programs in their schools.

Another $850,000 was provided for a mobile trades unit for the Kamloops/Thompson school district. The money will go toward a large, expandable semi-trailer unit that will move around communities in the district. The mobile unit will offer hands-on skills training for students in a variety of trades.

“Additional trades training equipment means more opportunities for students,” said Rob Chioccarello, executive director for Skills Canada BC. “The equipment also helps raise the profile of trades training in schools. Students who haven’t been exposed to the trades will take note and consider many options.”

Trades scholarships up for grabs

The Province also supports skilled trades training through scholarships. In March, $375,000 in provincial scholarships were awarded to secondary school graduates for their success in the secondary school apprenticeship program. The program allows students to start their apprenticeships after turning 15 and receive 16 credits toward graduation for 480 hours of paid work experience, while continuing classroom learning.

For more information on trades training in British Columbia, visit the Industry Training Authority’s website at www.itabc.ca.

Nanaimo-area resident Jackie Lahaise on the set of Debbie Travis’s “From the Ground Up,” where Jackie had a five-week immersion experience in the construction trades.

Spotlight shines on trades training

Trades training is a red hot commodity today, thanks mainly to the booming construction industry in British Columbia – but also to home renovation shows like “From the Ground Up,” hosted by Canadian design diva Debbie Travis.

The show gives 12 young people from different provinces the opportunity to learn valuable trade skills and compete against each other by building a million-dollar mansion in Ontario.

Jackie Lahaise, one of the British Columbians chosen from thousands of applicants, tried out trades work for five weeks when she took part in the show last fall, and she says she is now hooked. “The majority of the work was physical . . . [and it] gave me the confidence that whatever I put my mind to, I will succeed,” she said.

“We (female team members) worked with tile setters carrying 100 pound stacks of tiles and worked on our hands and knees for days setting tile,” said Lahaise, 20, who lives near Nanaimo. “At the end, the master tradesman said he would offer all of us jobs.”

Sample the trades

Spots on Travis’s show are tough to come by – but there are other ways to try out the trades. For example, the British Columbia Institute of Technology offers a trades discovery program that gives participants extensive access to more than 20 trades and technical training programs.

Students gain hands-on experience installing hot water tanks, framing a small house, welding and working on mechanical systems in cars, aircraft and heavy equipment. The programs include three weeks of job shadowing, partnering education with industry and the community.

Selkirk College offers a similar program over 11 weeks that provides basic technical knowledge and hands-on training in electrical, millwright, machinist, welding, carpentry and general mechanics geared specifically to women seeking to enter the trades. The skilled trades exploratory program also gives the students the opportunity to visit industrial worksites to see how trades people perform their skills.

High demand for trades workers

The new appeal of trades training is good news for the provincial government, which will put $400 million into enlarging and upgrading its workforce over the next three years. The Ministry of Advanced Education is providing additional support to post-secondary institutions that offer trade programs to help keep pace with high demand for skilled trade workers in B.C.

“We want to get the word out to young British Columbians that there are opportunities for them to get industry-recognized training through our post-secondary programs across the province that will lead to high-paying jobs in the trades,” said Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell. “B.C.’s economy is moving from strength to strength, and as a result, the need for highly skilled tradespeople has never been greater.”

Cloverdale Trades and Technology Centre

The Ministry of Advanced Education provided $39.2 million to build a new 17,203-square-metre trades training facility at Kwantlen University College’s Cloverdale campus to help the province increase the supply of skilled trade workers and apprenticeship programs. The building, set to open this fall, will accommodate 900 students taking trades, technology and applied programs.

Lahaise has applied to Kwantlen University College for the interior design program so she can use some of the skills she gained doing trades work on the Travis show. “Some interior designers walk in wearing high heels and tell other workers what to do. Debbie showed us that we can actually take part in the construction,” she said.

Electro-Mechanical Building Trades Facility

Okanagan College also has a new trades training facility, which opened in April. The centre will offer skilled training in electrical, plumbing and sheet metal courses on its Kelowna campus, and plans are in the works to offer similar courses at the Penticton, Vernon and Salmon Arm campuses on a rotating basis.

The college is also involved in partnerships with industry to train students in residential construction programs in Salmon Arm and Kelowna, where students work with other skilled tradeworkers to build a show home.

The Ministry of Advanced Education is not only providing money for facilities: in April, the ministry gave a $5-million grant to the Trades Training Consortium of B.C. to buy updated equipment for students. The consortium works with the Industry Training Authority and the Ministry of Advanced Education to ensure trades training is of the highest quality and is effectively and efficiently delivered.

Lahaise says she is optimistic about opportunities for young people getting into the trades today. “We will walk out of school and get multiple job offers partly because so many people are ready to retire and because of the 2010 Olympics. . . . I would recommend trades training for people who want a really rewarding career. I think it will be lucrative too,” she concluded.

Mobile unit to bring industry training to rural, northern areas

Trades training is about to get a whole lot closer to home for rural and Aboriginal residents of northern British Columbia.

The provincial government has given $1.5 million to the Industry Training Authority to acquire a large, expandable semi-trailer that can be moved between communities, offering a new choice for those who are interested in entering the trades, or current apprentices needing to continue their training. The mobile unit will be equipped to offer hands-on skills training in a variety of trades.

“The government’s support of the ITA’s plan to offer flexible training, closer to home, is one of the key ways we can respond to the increasing demand for skilled labour,” said Economic Development Minister Colin Hansen. “A mobile training unit, combined with B.C.’s excellent public and private post-secondary system, will help meet the growing demand for apprenticeship training.”

The mobile training unit is a new tool the Province is adding to the mix of solutions already used to expand training opportunities for British Columbians. Employers in B.C.’s more remote communities are feeling the effects of the skilled labour shortage, just as they are in the urban centres. By increasing regional access to training, employers will be better able to tap into local sources of labour.

The ITA will consult with key stakeholders to ensure that the unit is used most effectively. It has formed a steering committee that will advise on the specifications of the mobile classroom itself, including which trades it will be equipped to offer.

The Industry Training Authority has 26,525 people registered in apprenticeship and training programs as of the end of March. There are also 3,259 youth participants, up by almost 280 per cent from March 2004 when the ITA was established.

Youth training is the ITA’s top funding priority after apprenticeship technical training. The target is 4,000 youth participants by 2007-08.

Through programs like ACE IT, secondary school apprenticeship and YES 2 IT, the Province and the ITA are encouraging more youth to get a head start in their trades training. Youth programs help to fulfil the ITA mandate of providing more training opportunities for British Columbians and provide a skilled work force for the B.C. economy.

With the addition of a mobile unit, more of those training opportunities will be made available to Aboriginal youth and adult learners.

More about the mobile training unit:

• A unit normally takes seven to 10 months to construct.
• Each trailer can handle about 12 apprentices per class.
• Setup and knockdown take about 1 hour.
• B.C.’s unit will be based on one designed by instructors from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in co-operation with engineers at a truck manufacturer in Ontario.
• Instructors who use the Alberta unit say they are pleased with the shop on wheels because tools and supplies are right in place; businesses and communities say they appreciate the “at home” delivery; and employers comment on how it has helped their businesses because they don’t have to send employees away for training.
• Although B.C.’s unit isn't finished yet, it could be equipped to provide training in welding, millwright, machining, gas fitting, plumbing, steam fitting, sprinkler fitting. It could also accommodate other trades such as joiner, sheet metal, electrical and instrumentation mechanic.
• The Province is also providing $850,000 for a second mobile trades unit in Kamloops/Thompson to improve access to skills training for students in that district.

$15 million put in motion for spinal injuries

It was 20 years ago and halfway through his legendary Man In Motion World Tour when British Columbian hero Rick Hansen bumped his wheelchair up against a barrier – the Great Wall of China. Overcoming this world-scale obstacle strengthened Hansen’s resolve to help find a cure for spinal cord injuries.

To date, Hansen’s Man In Motion Foundation has contributed $178 million to support people with spinal cord and related injuries through education and skills development, assistive devices, sports, accessibility, integration programs and research. The foundation supports the more than 40,000 Canadians who suffer from spinal cord injuries, and the 1,000 Canadians (200 of them from British Columbia) who join their ranks each year.

Through the work of the foundation, Hansen is making an enormous contribution toward removing barriers and supporting research so people with spinal cord and related injuries can live the lives they choose.

The B.C. government shares Hansen’s vision. In fact, building the best system of support in Canada for people with disabilities is one of government’s goals.

To help this happen, Premier Gordon Campbell has announced a $15-million contribution to the Rick Hansen Man In Motion Foundation – the largest donation ever to the foundation. He has also issued a challenge to the other provinces and the federal government to match B.C.’s contribution. The goal is to encourage as much support as possible so Hansen and the Man In Motion Foundation can continue to lead the way toward the best quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries – and toward a cure for paralysis.