The COVID-19 pandemic has been disruptive to many things in life including education, but in some parts of the province there have been some excellent partnerships between Colleges and District School Boards that have benefitted high school students. Renfrew County is one of those places where there is a significant blue-collar workforce and looming labour market shortages.
The skilled trades have been particularly hard hit. An aging workforce, a housing construction boom and a stubborn pandemic have created the perfect storm, but these workforce gaps have also created some urgency for Algonquin College’s Pembroke Campus and the Renfrew County Public and Catholic District School Boards to create more opportunities for students interested in skilled trades careers.
While most Ontario high school students are studying from home, a small group of high school seniors are swinging hammers and making precision cuts as they complete level one of the General Carpenter apprenticeship program at the Pembroke Campus. With the support of the Renfrew County District Health Unit, the two school boards and the College, 18 students are enrolled in the program, nine from each board. It’s part of a School-College-Work-Initiative that helps high school students get a taste of college before they graduate from secondary school.
“It’s been quite extraordinary to watch how this partnership has evolved through the pandemic and the sheer determination by all parties to make this work for students,” says Tracy Norris, Acting Manager of Academic Partnerships at Algonquin College.
While Renfrew County has had its share of positive COVID-19 cases, the population base is much smaller and throughout the pandemic there have been fewer regulatory restrictions imposed on the area. The College has continued to deliver a variety of shop classes and labs in a modified format that includes smaller class sizes, work space protective barriers, physical distancing and mask wearing.
(OYAP Carpenter students with the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board pose for a photo wearing masks and socially distancing from one another. Only nine students are allowed in the shop at one time)
The program began in mid-April and will continue until the end of June. Students have been supplied with books, tools and safety equipment relevant to the trade to support their learning. By splitting the students into two smaller groups, it has ensured the college’s adherence to provincial COVID-19 regulations for delivering trades programs. It has also helped with providing strong program oversight and the coordination of transportation for students to and from school daily.
The program schedule has required students to be flexible. While most classes such as understanding building codes, estimating project costs and using power tools safety are being delivered during the daytime, welding classes are offered in the early evening. The students and their families haven’t questioned the schedule, but they have expressed a lot of gratitude that the program is being offered.
“This has been a great opportunity for the students. There is always a lot of interest in the skilled trades in our area and the students were genuinely excited to be part of the program,” says Tina Noel, OYAP Coordinator for the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board.
With only a small number of spaces available to students, it was difficult to decide what students would be admitted into the program. It didn’t take long to fill the seats, and those seats were well spaced out. Individual work stations were set up and furniture was adjusted to ensure physical distancing both in the classroom and in the shop.
“The attention to detail to ensure the students could safely and collaboratively hone their carpentry skills, while also experiencing college, has been great,” says Alex Harris, OYAP Coordinator for the Renfrew County District School Board.
During the pandemic, representatives of the school boards and the Pembroke Campus have been meeting weekly. The sole objective of the meetings is to find other pathway program opportunities to keep high school students engaged at a time when many of their other classes are being delivered virtually. The regular communication has produced excellent results.
In addition to the Apprenticeship delivery, more than 100 other high school students in Renfrew County have participated in a dual credit course offered during the 2021-2022 academic semester at the Pembroke Campus. These offerings included courses in Communications, Psychology and Foreign Landscapes. An “introduction to the skilled trades” summer course, planned for this July, will be targeted at groups that are not fully represented in the construction sector, particularly young women and Indigenous youth.
This grassroots effort to introduce more young people to the abundance of career opportunities available in the skilled trades is a great example of how the School-College-Work Initiative is making a difference, one student at a time.
Options has been recognized by the province of Ontario as an award winning grassroots effort to help the province introduce more youth to apprenticeship training to fill pending or current labour market shortages within many trades.
And one last point. Many trades pay very attractive salaries. It’s not the best reason to choose a trades career, but it certainly is a wonderful benefit. Just ask a well established plumber or electrician what their annual salary is?