Apprenticeship facts for kids
An apprenticeship is a special way to learn a job that needs specific skills. It's like learning by doing! Instead of just studying in a classroom, you work with someone who is already an expert in that job.
The person who is learning is called an apprentice. They get hands-on experience and learn skills directly from a master or experienced worker. It's a bit like having a teacher who shows you exactly how to do the work.
How Apprenticeships Started
Apprenticeships have been around for a very long time, for hundreds of years! Back in the Middle Ages, groups called craft guilds and local governments helped manage this system.
A master craftsman (an expert in their trade) could hire young people to work for them. These young people, the apprentices, would get a small payment. In return, they would learn all the secrets and skills of the trade.
In the past, most apprentices were boys. However, today, many more girls and young women are becoming apprentices. They learn all sorts of skills, including traditional crafts like embroidery and silk-weaving.
See Also
- Modern Apprenticeships: the way to work, The Report of the Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee, 2001 [1]
- Apprenticeship in the British "Training Market", Paul Ryan and Lorna Unwin, University of Cambridge and University of Leicester, 2001 [2]
- Creating a ‘Modern Apprenticeship’: a critique of the UK’s multi-sector, social inclusion approach Alison Fuller and Lorna Unwin, 2003 (pdf)
- Apprenticeship systems in England and Germany: decline and survival. Thomas Deissinger in: Towards a history of vocational education and training (VET) in Europe in a comparative perspective, 2002 (pdf)
Images for kids
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Electricians are often trained through apprenticeships.
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Typology of Apprenticeships
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Cook with her apprentice, Euroinstitut vocational school, Czech Republic
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Canadian Inter-provincial 'Red Seal' certification (note that license number was replaced with the word 'CANOE')
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A master chimney sweep and apprentice in 2008
