Educational Structures that Feed the Labour Market: part one

In the public domain, educational structures that feed the labour market vary, ranging from high school, to apprenticeship, to college and university. Entrance into the market can also be made through private vocational institutions, association accreditation or by training programs offered by employers, unions or social service organizations.

Those planning to enter the labour market should prepare their route carefully. Hidden variables can interfere even with the best of plans. Those who are unfamiliar with the system or who don't have a guide through it can miss out by not being aware of all the options or of the unwritten rules that will affect their opportunities.

When the client or student's situation is thoroughly investigated, it may become evident that any combination of factors such as cost, location, language barriers, family situation, physical abilities and learning style may require a custom-designed plan to get to the desired goal.

The happy ending to Jocelyn's story on the following page was due to the practitioner and client working out a plan that entailed a thorough investigation of aptitudes, interest, motivation, available resources and LMI.

Finding the Right Path: Jocelyn's Story

Jocelyn, a young, intelligent woman who was energetic, a good worker, motivated and had family support seemed to be the perfect candidate for a university program. In fact, all her teachers, her parents and the boss at her part-time job during high school urged her to go to university.

Jocelyn came for career counselling a year after she had finished her final year of high school. Feeling very pressured, she had forced herself to finish school and had then gone to work, much to her parents' disappointment. The aptitude test results showed her ability in all areas to be in the top 10 percentile, with some areas going off the scale. Her interest tests showed an entrepreneur with the lowest score on the Comfort in Classroom Learning scale the counsellor had ever seen.

Jocelyn was working two jobs. She had been made manager of her part-time job and was training new staff. In the full-time job, because she had shown interest and had solved some problems for the owner, she had been given the books (on a computer program) to manage and had taught herself in record time. This young woman was motivated to learn and loved what she was doing. She wanted a goal, to know where she was headed and, together, she and the counsellor developed a plan that didn't involve sitting in a classroom full-time in a lecture-style situation but capitalized on her ability to learn quickly and her love of applying what she learned. While continuing to work full-time, Jocelyn started taking a combination of correspondence courses and part-time practical courses that applied directly to her work. She received enough credits in this manner to motivate her to finish a financial management program in a regular, but part-time classroom setting. Her labour market research had shown good career prospects, with occupations in financial management showing above average growth.

If the people involved are willing to put in the time, there is usually an alternative route to be found that respects the individualized needs of the person seeking help.

Universities and Colleges

For those who are headed for university or college, a thorough investigation is necessary. Entrance requirements for a particular university program are not always what they appear. For example, they may be stated in the calendar as a minimum of 65 percent. However, due to the number of people who applied with higher percentages, the lowest average mark that was accepted the previous year could actually have been 75 percent.

Another requirement that needs to be checked is the recommended course prerequisites in both universities and colleges. It may be that so many applicants have the recommended courses that no one has gotten in without them in several years. Clients and students should also know that their extra-curricular activities can influence their entrance into some universities and colleges. Volunteer or paid work in the field of interest can be a major benefit in many cases and, sometimes, political or social service involvement is of interest to an institution which is trying to boost student interest in school politics.

CO-OP: Education With Career Relevance

Co-op is short for co-operative education, a program that integrates paid work experience in a student's field along with academic studies. The name reflects the co-operative relationship between students, schools and employers.

For the fortunate few who have a clear idea of what kind of work they would like to do, co-op provides a chance to get real experience before they graduate. For students who are unsure about their future career, co-op can be a tool for discovery, an opportunity to test interests, aptitudes and abilities in a variety of jobs. Results from The National Graduate Survey show that, in comparison with non-co-op graduates, graduates from co-op programs found that their programs provided them with more knowledge of career opportunities.

Other benefits of co-op education include:

higher employment rate for grads in their chosen career/field of study;
employment is found sooner after graduation;
reduced student debt load;
graduates who are more satisfied with their salary levels and networking opportunities;
a lower student drop-out rate; and
graduates who develop improved interpersonal relations, self-confidence and independence.

Although Grade 12 or its equivalent is the minimum entrance into community colleges, high school graduates are competing more and more with university graduates. Graduates of general science and general arts programs are finding the practical training received in college is what can get them in the door to a job, and the university degree will give them the edge in advancement opportunities. College and institute programs, such as medical laboratory technician, respiratory therapist, optician, broadcasting, early childhood education, business management, public relations and journalism, are popular choices for the degree graduates.

The number of college applicants and the level of basic skills of some high school graduates have led to an increase in programs requiring entrance tests.

Prior learning assessment (PLA) or experiential learning is a method used by colleges and universities to grant credit for learning outside the classroom. PLA is aimed at those who have gained substantial experience, often through employment experiences. It creates a formalized record of their learning experience and translates it into college credits and then applies it to a course or program. PLA should help potential students get into a program at the right level, avoiding repetition which is costly to the individual and the system. It enables members of the labour force to move in and out of employment and to transfer between colleges more effectively.

A prior learning assessment project sponsored by the Council of Regents in Ontario has 10 pilot projects across Ontario. PLA is expected to increase access of the community to credentials. Colleges will move to a more learner-based delivery with more part-time access. To aid implementation, colleges will be obliged to reserve spots for PLA students.

The program also must ensure that standards are maintained. Students have to meet admission requirements for both the college and the program. Their evaluation looks at course matches to give credits for specific courses. The assessment can be done in two ways - a challenge exam for single course credits or a portfolio of experience to challenge a level or group of courses.

PLA is in a different state of development in each province. What some provinces call prior learning assessment others call experiential learning. The practice has been around for many years but there is a push to refine it, now that the need is increasing for continuous learning, and employees find it necessary to return to school to upgrade.

Hidden entrance requirements that may not be apparent in reading a college of university calendar can affect graduates from general degree courses who want to go on to a professional course in university. Some of the following programs have a prerequisite of one or two pre-professional years of university, others require a full degree, yet the competition is so fierce that a full degree is often the real bottom line for entry into most of these programs. These professional programs include law, medicine, architecture, social work, dentistry, veterinary medicine, speech language pathology, physical therapy, journalism, library and information science, optometry, pharmacy, occupational therapy and teacher education.

Regardless of the educational path chosen, the learner's journey does not often lead neatly into employment in a related field. Social, economic and personal factors can lead to unexpected turns in the pursuit of education and career directions. Below, Erica's story demonstrates how one young woman's post-secondary education choices and her movements within the labour force were affected by the socio-economic elements shaping the labour market.

Opportunities Lost and Found: Erica's Story

This is the story of a woman whose career path wound its way around two recessions and time out for family. Erica started out with a university degree in archaeology just as Canada entered the recession of the early '80s. Over the next couple of years she looked for a job unsuccessfully, married and started a family, and soon after found herself a single mother. The only job she could get was as a photo-lab technician which did not pay enough to survive.

Realizing that she would have to have a good job to support her family, Erica enrolled in an electronics technology program at a community college, sure that the practical training in a growing field would get her a job. But with a family to support now, her debts mounted and she had to drop out after two of three years. The job she was able to get upon leaving school was in a credit union for more remuneration than her photo-lab job. Unfortunately, the company down-sized as the second recession emerged, and she was laid off.

The next step Erica took in her quest for a productive occupation was to enter a 16-week re-entry program for careers in technology at a community college. When she finished the program, she had a direction - a turn in her career that combined her research and writing skills from university with her interest in technology: technical writing.

After one semester in the technical writing program at the same community college, Erica was hired by a telecommunications company as a permanent, full-time employee with security and benefits. She was making more than twice what she made at the credit union.

Erica's story plainly illustrates labour market dynamics in action. The economy (in the form of two recessions), marketability of a specific occupation, the social trend toward single parenthood and the impact of technology were all labour market factors combining to shape Erica's career path.