Learning How Apprenticeship Creates a Talent Pipeline ..........................

[Chris Ryser]

DOL News Brief October 30, 2014 October 30, 2014

October 30. 2014

Learning How Apprenticeship Creates a Talent Pipeline

As the department prepares to launch a major push to expand apprenticeship across the country, U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez traveled to Germany to learn about its apprenticeship models. German businesses have 16 times as many apprentices per capita as the United States, and apprenticeship is considered an essential component of how German businesses recruit and train workers. Soon after landing in Frankfurt, Perez toured a Jobs information Center, a public employment service that provides students and workers with career information. He also traveled to the Volkswagen facility in Wolfsburg to learn how apprenticeships are being used by one of the country's leading companies. The Volkswagen program employs state-of-the-art training tools to ensure its workers keep up with changing technologies. In Berlin, Perez met with a medium-sized health care company as well as Siemens, a multinational engineering corporation, to learn how apprenticeship can be valuable for businesses of all sizes and in every industry. Capping off his visit, he engaged in a roundtable discussion with representatives of German work councils. The councils play a critical role in building collaborative relationships between businesses and workers to ensure economic success for both.
• Read the Secretary's T

[rbaker]

I believe that an apprentice programs can be either a case of a master passing along his craft or a case of the blind leading the blind. How does one identify the "master" and how is he identified to the prospective apprentice. In the field of opticianry there are no credentials identifying the guru so finding an optical rabbi is pretty much a matter of luck and the odds are against finding a true master.

I can count on my fingers, and perhaps toes those who I would entrust the task of training a willing and talented student here on OptiBoard.

Just remember, this ain't the Western Europe of the 1950's

[Roy R. Ferguson]

There is a huge difference between apprenticeship as defined by the Department of Labor and the “apprenticeship” opticians have embraced over the past decades. A true apprenticeship incorporates an educational component to round out the hands-on portion. Opticians have substituted osmosis for education and combined elementary entry level examinations with lowered professional standards to compensate for the knowledge deficit. The result has been several generations of “opticians” lacking in basic technical ability and professional advancement. Education phobia runs rampant in the field.

Again, I would like to point out that when presented with a pair of progressive lenses mounted in a frame only 47% of tested opticians can identify the amount of prism thinning. When faced with such numbers what do opticians do? Simple, they seek an easier test.

Let the flames begin.

Roy

[sharpstick777]

I have long advocated the German model of apprenticeship for many fields. I believe that Opticianry should be formally taught, with a mix of in-class and hands apprenticeship on education over the course of 3 years, followed by 1 year apprenticeship with elements of management and sales included. Much like Electricians are now here in WA State.

The resistance to this primarily cultural both within optical and within higher education. Higher education has an unfair bias against apprenticeship, Opticians have an unfair bias against higher education. Both perspectives must change if we are to grow and gain respect as Opticians again. We need both.

The points of Qualification that Mr. Baker raised, I have also raised before.