Flexibility and mobility in apprenticeship training

Abstract

This thesis examines the apprenticeship system of skill development to determine if improvements can be made that would enhance its effectiveness as a training model in the current economic climate. The critical argument is developed in three parts. The first part argues that historically, apprenticeship has been a very important mechanism for transferring knowledge and skills to new generations of workers though the overall importance of apprenticeship has declined somewhat in recent decades relative to the growth of institutionally based learning. Secondly, this thesis demonstrates that despite this relative decline, apprenticeship still continues to be a priority with stakeholders and economically beneficial to all parties including workers, employers and the public such as government. The third part argues that the role, the flexibility and the benefits of the apprenticeship model of skill creation could be enhanced by reorganizing the delivery of the generic skills portion of the apprenticeship system in such a way that common, generic elements of related occupational skills are taught to all such occupations in the same relative sequence.