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might also be done through the personal relationships that we hope to see built up by local Apprenticeship Committees with the employers in their respective districts, and we look to the proposed Deputy Commissioners of Apprenticeship to assist in the establishment of these relationships. Only when all efforts of industry, voluntary and otherwise, have failed should the State undertake the direct responsibility for the employment and training of all apprentices. PREVOCATIONAL EDUCATION OF APPRENTICES The level of education reached by recent apprentices in most trades is not a great deal beyond that of the primary school. In mechanical and in electric engineering the majority of apprentices have had two years or more of post-primary schooling, but in all other trades it is only a small minority who have reached that stage. Now that the school leaving age is fifteen, it can be expected that in future nearly all apprentices will have had at least one year's post-primary education, and that many will have had at least two years. In current apprenticeship orders in the electrical trades there is already in force a requirement of two years' post-primary education, with passes— i.e., at least 40 per cent, of the possible marks— in school examinations in English, mathematics, and drawing, before an apprenticeship may be entered into. We recommend in general that in trades in which theoretical knowledge is important the Apprenticeship Committees should see to it that only boys known to have the capacity to acquire that knowledge be admitted to apprenticeship. In the great majority of cases the record of school work during two years or more of post-primary education would be an adequate measure of that capacity. Some of the complaints we heard about the unsatisfactory education of boys in trades arose, we think, from faulty selection of apprentices. Employers should choose an apprentice carefully, having regard to his suitability for the particular trade concerned, and using the judgment of those who have known the applicant in the past as well as their own in making decisions. They will find, for example, that headmasters of schools, careers teachers, and vocational guidance officers can supply them with useful reports based on knowledge of boys' school careers ; and we suggest that the services of such people should be freely used. Vocational guidance officers and teachers have a responsibility which they already recognize, to make known to boys the opportunities offering in various trades. Kept fully informed of the needs of industry, they should be able to help greatly in finding suitable candidates from whom the employer may select his apprentices. The acceptance by employers of these services carries with it a duty to lay down clearly the qualities necessary in the various trades, in order that guidance officers may have clear notions of the sort of boy that is likely to succeed. Such " occupational analyses " might well bo made by the Apprenticeship Committees, with the aid of the Industrial Psychology Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. There are two matters we wish to raise in regard to vocational guidance in schools. In the first place, it was stated by witnesses that the practice of the crafts of woodwork and metalwork in the post-primary schools has a directive influence on many who become apprenticed to the trades of cabinetmaking and fitting and turning. Extending the experience of boys to a wider range of crafts may tend to divert the present preferences for these trades to allied branches in which apprentices are required. This is an educational problem capable of solution in a variety of ways—for example, by a wider range of craft practice, by means of visual aids such as films or posters, or by visits to industrial concerns —and we therefore recommend that the Dominion Apprenticeship Committees co-operate with the Education Department to provide or extend such educational activities. The second point has some bearing on the first. In order to give a more reasonable basis for choice of careers of all kinds, we suggest that in the programme of work in the social studies, which, we are told, will in future be an important part of the general education of all children, there should be included reference to possible careers ; for our purposes a broad general knowledge of the conditions of apprenticeship should bo included. Support for our view is to be found in. the report of a Committee set up by the Minister of Education in November, 1942 (The Post-primary School Curriculum) ; under " Social Studies " the Committee says : " This should include what is sometimes called ' vocational civics ' — i.e., it should help to introduce the pupil to the world of work, assist him to make a wise choice of vocation, and give him a sympathetic understanding of types of work other than his own. We recommend that a system of bursaries should be inaugurated to help pupils who live in country districts not served by a technical school and who are desirous of further study in technical subjects above the level of School Certificate. The object of these bursaries would be to enable such pupils to attend approved technical schools for definite courses of study in technological subjects. INDUSTRY AND THE TECHNICAL SCHOOLS We have found that there is a good deal of misunderstanding amongst employers of the nature and purposes of the technical schools and of the work that they are trying to do. That misunderstanding, amongst other things, has frequently led to a regrettable lack of co-operation between industry and the schools in the matter of the education of apprentices. We therefore suggest to the boards of managers of the technical schools that they should publicize the work of their schools, in order to make the public, and in particular the leaders of industry, more aware of what the schools are doing. The practice of inviting Apprenticeship Committees and representative bodies of employers and workers jto visit the schools should be considerably extended, and employers might well reciprocate by inviting the school boards and their staffs to visit factories. In each school the development and full use of Advisory Committees in particular trades should be encouraged. Each Advisory Committee should consist of technically trained and experienced men able to advise the boards of managers of the schools upon courses of instruction and upon selection of specialist staff and equipment required for each trade. In some cases the local Apprenticeship Committee would be an appropriate Advisory Committee, but in any case at least two representatives, one employer and one employee, from that Committee should be invited to assist. Apart from the suggestion that every possible informal means should be used to increase! co-operation between industry and the schools, we would point out that we have already recommended that every Apprenticeship Committee, Dominion and local, should include a representative of vocational education.

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