Wednesday’s Quality Pre-Apprenticeship Programs webinar reviewed recent guidance.
After a welcome from John Ladd, Apprenticeship Administrator at ETA, presenters reviewed the new Training and Employment Notice issued on March 5th, TEN No. 23-23, on what makes quality pre-apprenticeship programs. With registered apprenticeship codified and structured into state and federal regulations, pre-apprenticeship can sometimes lack the rigor, data and clear pathways to apprenticeship. This new TEN seeks to rectify that.
Ayesha Upshur, Supervisory Program Analyst at ETA, led the webinar, going over the purpose of the TEN, definitions of pre-apprenticeship programs, the importance of pre-apprenticeship and their quality framework for pre-apprenticeships.
The framework provides five basic elements for a quality pre-apprenticeship program:
- Partnership with Registered Apprenticeship Program Sponsors.
- Sustainability through partnerships.
- Meaningful training combined with hands-on experience replicating a workplace that does not displace paid employees.
- Access to career and supportive services.
- Strategies that increase Registered Apprenticeship opportunities for underrepresented or underserved populations facing significant barriers to employment in the Registered Apprenticeship labor force.
At Aspect Works we have seen the benefit of formalized partnerships with Registered Apprenticeships, providing a clearer pathway for pre-apprentices into the occupations they want to begin.
Sustainability has consistently been a challenge for pre-apprenticeships, scrambling for grants and complex funding streams to keep programs going from quarter to quarter.
On #3, the webinar’s callout of not displacing paid employees is interesting. We wonder if there’s been pushback from some industries, employers or unions as to the role of pre-apprentices, seeing them as essentially unpaid labor.
Career and supportive services are an imperative. Whether it’s driver’s license recovery or childcare or mental health counseling, we have seen that the world of supportive services makes a world of difference in pre-apprentices being successful.
We applaud the TEN’s callout to increase opportunities for the underserved. The numbers of women and people of color in Registered Apprenticeship, especially some occupations and industries, is still shockingly low. There is so much work to do, and this TEN, while no game-changer, at least makes mention of the importance of diversifying Registered Apprenticeship.
Two pre-apprenticeship leaders from the field presented in the second half of the call, with Todd Berch, President of NASTAD and Nicole Schwartz, Executive Director at TradesFuture sharing their best practices and success stories.