Article Calls for Future-Focused Training
Date Posted: September 21, 2013
Posted In: Workforce,
John Gaal, Ed.D., is an educator who believes that construction training programs should focus on the industry of the future and not that of the 1950s. That’s the conclusion of an article Gaal authored which was published last week by the Online Journal for Workforce Development.
The article is the result of surveys conducted in St. Louis and at the international union level by Gaal (with some assistance locally from Dr. Deborah Henry of St. Louis Community College). It is titled “The Great Regression’s (sic) Impact on Construction Training Programs: Multi-Level Analyses of Recruiting and Retention Concepts.” Click here to download a PDF of the article.
Gaal, the director of training and workforce development for the Carpenters’ District Council of Greater St. Louis & Vicinity (CDC) believes that many programs which target non-traditional workers for construction are using an outdated model which ignores the technology that is raising the bar of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills that will be required if workers are to use new tools and systems without being replaced by them.
Gaal has long railed about the lack of accountability for outcomes among construction training programs. Instead, he has said, programs focus on intake of new, non-traditional construction workers instead of retention of those workers and the raising of skill levels of those already established in the industry. When what Gaal refers to his paper as the “Great Regression” hit the industry with full force, the need to change the educational paradigm became very clear.
In his conclusion, Gaal asks, ”Why are many of the construction-related pre-apprenticeship programs still operating in(recession era) the same way they did (pre-recession era)? Upon further study, many of these same programs have not placed a number of their recent graduates in post-secondary industry-related opportunities (i.e., construction job, trade school, Architecture/Engineering/Construction college program, military, etc.. Equally important, why are funders assisting these questionable pre-apprenticeship programs in clogging the front-end of the pipeline with more recruits instead of bringing their unemployed graduates back into their facilities for more training at an advanced level?
Gaal and CDC have put their training dollars behind innovative, results-oriented training In 2012, The St. Louis District Council’s attention to training was recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor. Two CDC programs were selected out of 24,000 training programs nationwide for recognition in the DOL Office of Apprenticeship 21st Century Registered Apprenticeship Trailblazer and Innovator awards.
One honor went to a pre-apprenticeship program developed for at-risk high school students at Bayliss High School and operated by the Floor Layers Joint Apprenticeship Program. The effort is designed to prepare high school juniors and seniors with less than a C letter-grade average for a career in the construction trades, while connecting their learning and experiences to the community college for further education.
The students were able to both complete an apprenticeship and earn an associate degree while in high school.
Also recognized was the Green Construction Corps (GCC), sponsored by the St. Louis Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Program, St. Louis Habitat for Humanity, and a host of government and community organizations. GCC offers green construction and weatherization technician pre-apprenticeship training and related job experience to at-risk groups. Those benefiting from this program include at-risk youth, ex-offenders, and dislocated workers.
More than 95 percent of students involved in the floor layer program not only completed high school, but accomplished apprenticeship requirements. In the GCC program, more than 95 percent of participants not only graduated from the program, but are also employed by signatory contractors.