The 2nd Annual International Congress on Vocational and Professional Education and Training was held in Switzerland this past June. At the Congress, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor, Christopher Lu, spoke about our commitment to learning from the Swiss model of apprenticeship. In his downloadable video address to attendees, the Deputy Secretary spoke about learning from Switzerland's permeable apprenticeship system, where former apprentices can go on to become engineers, PhDs, or even the CEO of a company. As the Deputy Secretary said, "On Switzerland's skills superhighway, it's easy to shift lanes, take detours and explore different routes".
He goes on to point out that Swiss companies employ nearly half million workers in the US, in companies such as Nestle and Zurich Insurance. These businesses are part of the Apprenticeship Leaders Campaign, whose mission is raising the profile of apprenticeship in America. Through the Department of Labor's commitment to double the number of registered apprenticeships, we have added 80,000 apprenticeships in two years, marking the largest increase in a decade. The recent $175 million dollars to support 46 public-private partnerships, we are poised to expand the apprenticeship model in the U.S. to include career pathways in healthcare, Information Technology, and advanced manufacturing.
Questions: What questions do you have about apprenticeship, and how it can work for our adult learners? What do you see as the challenges faced by your students, and what are your thoughts on how an updated American apprenticeship model can best address them?
Best,
Mike Cruse
Career Pathways Moderator
michaelcruse74@gmail.com