Education
October 27, 2010Survey Being
Conducted to Assess Apprenticeship Experiences
The Provincial Government is undertaking a survey to
evaluate the experiences of registered apprentices in Newfoundland and
Labrador. The Honourable Darin King, Minister of Education, announced
today that the survey will begin later this fall and includes all
registered apprentices in the province.
"We want to know how the system is working for each
and every apprentice in our province," said Minister King. "This survey
will help us assess the impact of initiatives we have put in place to
support apprentices in the province and it will help inform future
decisions to ensure an effective apprenticeship system."
All registered apprentices in the province will be
contacted by telephone to voluntarily answer a questionnaire covering
areas such as training, on-the-job experience and current employment, as
well as questions specific to the experience of women in apprenticeship.
"Building our province's skilled trades capacity is
vital to sustaining growth and supporting our expanding sectors," said
Minister King, "From time to time we hear that apprentices have
difficulty in obtaining the hours needed to move through their program.
This is clearly a concern for us and this survey will help us identify
how prevalent the problem is. It will also provide apprentices with an
opportunity to share their ideas on how we can strengthen apprenticeship
training."
Any apprentice who has changed their phone number
since registering can contact the department to update their contact
information by calling 729-2729 or toll free 1-877-771-3737. All
respondent names will be kept confidential.
The Provincial Government has made substantial
investments in recent years to support apprenticeship through areas such
as science and technology, programming, training and infrastructure.
This includes approximately $5.2 million for the Apprenticeship Hiring
Program to support Provincial Government departments and agencies in
hiring apprentices.
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Media contact:
Tara Power
Director of Communications
Department of Education
709-729-0048, 727-5953
tarapower@gov.nl.ca
2010 10 27
10:20 a.m.