Historical look at Apprenticeship Programs

VOED 6513 History and Principles of Vocational Education

Instructor: David Agnew

What is an Apprenticeship?

• Form of instruction in which a novice learns from a master of a craft or art

• Purpose was to provide a type of education in exchange for work.

• Oldest Type of Vo Ed.

• Involved a formal binding agreement that required the employer to provide formal training in return for work

Apprenticeship

• Craft guilds of the 7th and 8th centuries of western Europe formalized the apprenticeship program.

• Retained control until the late 16th century• Until the late 19th century apprenticeship was

the only means for people to acquire skills for most occupations.– Reference: Electric Library: The 1998 Canadian Encyclopedia

What is an Apprentice?

• Text book ----

Five basic elements provided by the apprenticeship arrangement

• Food, clothing, and shelter

• Religious instruction

• Reading and writing

• Skill training

• Mysteries of the trade

Apprenticeship vs Indenture

• The apprenticeship system came with the colonist

• Shortage of laborers in New world

• Surplus population in England

• Indentures were common

• Slavery lead to the decline of indentured servants

1757 Brickmaker’s Apprentice

1757 Brickmaker’s Apprentice

• (Colonial Massachusetts) Partly printed document signed, 1 page, folio, dated Feb 28, 1757, Massachusetts. Agreement for a brickmaker's apprenticeship. John Bishop of Medford Massachusetts agrees to teach Daniel McCarthy the art of brickmaking. In part, "...herunto subscribed Select Men of the town of Medford. .Daniel McCarthy natura son of Capt Daniel McCarthy to be an Apprentice...

Continued…...

• to serve from the day of ..and during the term of one year and nine months to be compleat..faithfully shall serve (his master), his secrets keep, his lawful commands gladly every where obey..shall not waste the Masters goods, shall not commit fornification, nor contract matrimony...nor haunt alehouses, Taverns, or Play-houses.. and (the master) promise to teach, and instruct..reading & writing.. .finding unto the said apprentice good & sufficient meat, drink, apparall, lodging..." Witnessed by "Stephen Willis" and "Simon Tufts". Signed by both parties to the contract.

English Statue of Artifices 1562

• This identified the difference in Servitude and Apprenticeships – Training in the trades– Education– Instruction in sound ethics

• Transferred from a local to national system

English Poor Law of 1601

• Purpose was to help equip children of the poor with skills

• Church wards and overseers could place children of the poor in with an acceptable master until – Females were 21– Males were 24

Kinds of Apprenticeships

• Cobbler

• Silversmith

• ***** smith

• ***** wright

• Tanner

• Printer

German city to city Journeyman Apprentice book 1859-1861

• The person's last name was Wolf. 64 pages. Measures 3 7/8" x 6 1/2". All text & writing is in German. The first 7 pages have text & info on the owner, pages 8-28 have entries from cities dated 1859-1861. The Wanderbuch was used by Journeymen Apprentices to record their travels. As part of their apprenticeship journeymen were required to travel around the countryside learning their craft. The ink stamps in the Wanderbuch are from the cities he worked in. They had to stay at least 35 km away from their homes during this period.

Albert Durer Visiting Hans Sachs From The Original Painting Richard Gross. Hans Sachs,

• The Cobbler who was a son of a Nuremberg Barber or some say Tailor, he was born in 1494. Apprenticed to a shoemaker he found time to study Poetry. On finishing his apprenticeship he visited the guilds of Meistersingers in the different cities.

Reasons for decline in America?

• Rise of education--Free public schools

• Industrial revolution

• Small scattered to Centralized industry

• Task specific training

• Over population of apprentices in trades

• Indenture laws were less effective in control

Apprenticeships in 20th Century

• 1937 -- Fitzgerald Act -- National Apprenticeship Act

• Secretary of Labor established standards

• Recommendations of Inter. Labor Org.

• BLS

• Two types – Youth– Adults

Apprenticeship CertificateErie Railroad, June 1925

for a journeyman of the machinist trade

National Apprenticeship Act

U.S. Presidents had Apprenticeship

• Author: Olivia Coolidge, pub. by Scribners, 1974. 242 pages. This book covers Lincoln's life from Childhood up to his first inauguration. A good, easy to read yet well researched and written biography of Lincoln's pre-presidential days.

Apprenticeship:

• Apprenticeships continue today:– Adult

– Youth

– State Level

– National Level

Apprenticeship:

• Organizations:– Local:

• Executive Director, Occupational Information Coordinating Council/Employment Security Division, Employment and Training Services, P.O. Box 2981, Little Rock AR 72203. Phone (501) 682-3159

Apprenticeships, organizations con:

• National:– Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, U.S.

Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW., Room N-4649, Washington DC 20210. Phone (202) 219-5921

– International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen, International Masonry Institute Apprenticeship and Training, 823 15th St. NW., Suite 1001, Washington, DC 20005

Apprenticeship:

• Adult apprenticeship programs:– Electrician: 4-to-5 year program.– Stonemasons and bricklayers.

Apprenticeship:

• Youth Programs:– Workforce Preparation:

• Youth Internship/Apprenticeship Program

– School-To-Work

Apprenticeship:

• School-to-Work:– a law providing money to state and local

organizations and business– purpose is to prepare youth for the high wage,

high skill careers of today’s and tomorrow’s global economy.

Apprenticeship:

• Workforce Preparation:– Division of the National 4H Council

contributes a program that prepares young people for an employable future

• The Youth Internship/Apprenticeship Program:– Program offered through Workforce

Preparation.– Provides immediate practical application of

skills learned in the classroom.

1992? Voc Ed Journal Article