A collaborative effort between Danville Area Community College and Vermilion Vocational Education Delivery System (VVEDS) has resulted in Tech Prep Youth Apprentices in the manufacturing cluster. At present, 11 firms have committed to providing paid work experiences and/or post-secondary tuition reimbursement. Plans are being made to expand into other occupational areas.
As more firms commit to the apprenticeship movements, the College has realized a need to train the worksite trainer (i.e., meister or worksite mentor) which works with the youth apprentices. Currently, most business/industry representatives which train students (apprentices) are chosen based on three primary factors:
These characteristics alone, however, do not ensure this employee is adequately prepared to advise, instruct and supervise students. Workers assigned to the role of meister/mentor frequently have no experience aligning training plans with a student's academic work and often have never instructed outside the technical domain.
Employees who supervise at the worksite are a critical part of the work-based learning component. Because these employees often have substantial contact with the students at the worksite, they have the opportunity to influence students' personal, career, and skill development. Most business sites assign employees to work with or supervise students while they are at the workplace.
Each company will design an approach which works best for that particular site. Regardless of the approach which is adopted, students report that they rely primarily on those colleagues with whom they work most closely to provide advice and help them learn new skills. Thus, students may have several "unofficial" mentors, in addition to the formally designated one. How much students interact with their mentor(s) and the role these mentors play in the students' lives vary. Even within individual programs, students in focus group discussions reported significant differences in the amount of time they spend with these adult co-workers.
Danville Area Community College believes formal training of worksite supervisors for apprentices is necessary if Tech Prep/School-to-Work programs are to attain the level of quality needed for a world-class workforce. Therefore, Worksite Training Workshops will be offered at DACC during the month of May.
Fifteen participants attended this 3-day workshop which focused on:
Danville Area Community College is committed to the Tech Prep Youth Apprenticeship movement and providing training to our business partners. Currently, two more DACC instructors have been training in this area. DACC will be helping the Illinois State Board of Education develop a statewide plan for worksite training.
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Last Updated 6/20/99