Techniques Nov-Dec 2012 - 44

Business and Industry Partnerships

and enrollment in the university system beyond guaranteed employment. The next takeaway was the critical need for businesses to feel invested in the education of the future workforce. It was clear from conversations at the chamber of commerce and at ArcelorMittal that employers saw their roles very clearly and purposefully. While we often ask business and industry leaders to serve on advisory committees, help develop curricula or provide financial resources to support programs, there are few established partnerships between business and education systems as a whole. More can certainly be done at the local level to give business leaders both a greater voice and a greater responsibility for the future workforce, but work must occur on the state and national levels as well. Along the same lines, the importance of work-based learning was very clear in the German dual system. Even though

we may not be able to establish paid apprenticeships for two-thirds of American students (which is essentially the German model), we can do more to replicate actual interaction with employers and real-life work situations, including time in physical workplaces. All the students we talked to discussed the importance of actually seeing work being done and experiencing authentic tasks during their education. Whether through internships, job shadowing, service learning or other strategies, we must get more students into the workplace at earlier ages to explore career possibilities and better connect classroom and real-world learning.

Coordinating Efforts
Despite the world-renowned businesseducation partnerships in Germany, some of the most important lessons were about the effort it takes to make the system operate. Even with the established state

system of VET schools and training provided through both the workplace and the education system, it takes local, on-theground coordination between classroom teachers and apprenticeship instructors to ensure that students get the most out of their education. While we heard numerous examples at ArcelorMittal of how worksite instructors worked with VET school instructors to ensure complementary skills were being taught—such as projects that were begun in one setting and completed in the other—that was not universally true. Other apprentices and system experts we met spoke of examples, particularly in emerging or small occupational areas with more internal diversity, where this coordination did not happen. In one case, an apprentice shared that very little of what he was learning in school carried over into his work projects, in large part because he was the only apprentice in his

Safety Education for America’s Future
OSHA Authorized: Students will receive their OSHA 10-Hour wallet card from the OSHA Training Institute (OTI). ACTE CONFERENCE SESSIONS Session: CareerSafe Online: OSHA 10-Hour Training Program Date: 11/29/2012 Time: 1:30pm - 2:30pm Session: CareerSafe Online: Delivering OSHA 10-Hour Curriculum and Certification Date: 11/30/2012 Time: 8:00am - 9:00am Impacting Youth: Our interactive Y2Y™ (Youth-To-Youth) program is designed to fit the needs of each student and help them maintain interest. Creating a Stir in Communities: By affording students better, higher paying jobs and promoting the importance of safety, this program reaches beyond the classroom. Affordable: We are committed to delivering the CareerSafe® Online OSHA 10-Hour programs at a reasonable cost—$25 per student. Training Across Industries: Students in each of the 16 career clusters will find valuable safety information through CareerSafe’s® OSHA authorized courses. Seamless Classroom Integration: CareerSafe’s® online training programs are 100% interactive and self-administered.

For more information contact us at 888-614-SAFE (7233) or visit www.careersafeonline.com.

Visit our booth

Stop By and Visit Our Booth!
44
Techniques
November/December 2012

#513

www.acteonline.org

Techniques Nov-Dec 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Techniques Nov-Dec 2012