Projects Under Theme 3: Education and Training

1. Union Influence on Education and Training in the New Economy
2. Educational Credentials/Skills Recognition in the New Economy
3. Providing Flexible Learning Opportunities for Adult Learners
4. Collaborative Training Practices and Canada's Trade Unions
5. Union Influence on Formal Training, Informal Learning and Apprenticeships Provision: Canadian and International Perspectives
6. Vocational Training for Women: Private and Public Training Options
7. Apprenticeship in Canada: Innovative Approaches to Attract and Maintain a
   Workforce in the Skilled Trades

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Union Influence on Education and Training in the New Economy
David Livingstone, OISE

In spite of much talk about a knowledge-based economy and learning organizations, we still know very little about the actual extent of worker education and training activities in current paid workplaces, or about the extent to which union status influences participation in such learning activities. This project will conduct comparative statistical analyses of the most current national surveys containing data on union status, occupational class, other demographic factors and various education and training activities to generate profiles of the education and training activities of unionised and non-unionized workers. The relative effects of specific occupational class, age and seniority, sex, ethnicity, formal schooling and trade certification, region, industrial sector and specific enterprise characteristics on the training profiles of unionised and non-unionized workers will be assessed using several surveys.  The basic hypothesis is that, other things being equal, unionised workers will be more likely to participate in organized training programs and more likely to be supported by their employers in these activities because of their greater bargaining power. But these effects are likely to be mediated by other power relations as measured by the above variables. The profiles and estimated effects generated in this study will be disseminated widely in the union movement to aid in future education and training program design.

See the related article in Just Labour:
UNION INFLUENCE ON WORKER EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN CANADA IN TOUGH TIMES
D.W. Livingstone & M. Raykov
http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/Livingstone_Raykov.pdf

Educational Credentials/Skills Recognition in the New Economy
Peter Sawchuk, OISE

This project examines the varying perspectives on what actually defines the new economy, its basic dynamics, and the apparent sources of its emergence. New technologies, new management techniques, open-markets and increased importance of the service sector, go hand-in-hand with new opportunities for workers to fully utilize and continuously develop their knowledge and exercise control over their skills and skill development.
This study tests these core assumptions by examining the lives of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) members in the Greater Toronto Area. The general objective of the study is to compare the promises of learning opportunities and skill development in the new economy with the reality of a diverse array of USWA workers. In addition to traditional focus groups organized off the work-site, researchers will make use of a variant of Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology, in which trained worker-researcher undertake data collection (including recorded interviews with full, informed consent) concerning the workplace and co-workers throughout the workday, in the workplace.

Providing Flexible Learning Opportunities for Adult Learners
Paul Anisef, York University
Robert Sweet, Lakehead University

This project uses the Adult Education and Training Survey to examine the role of community college and proprietary training schools in providing intermediate skills to members of the active labour market. Institutional choice (i.e. the likelihood to attend private vs. public training) is predicted by a set of individual, situational, dispositional and institutional factors. The project’s objectives are:

1. To examine gender differences among proprietary and college trainees in respect of individual characteristics, support systems, motivational patterns, and response to the different institutional features.
2. Controlling for individual characteristics, to examine the impact on institutional choice of differences in respondents’ support structures, motivational orientations, and preferences for specific institutional features (e.g. duration).
3. To detail these differences in relation to age and gender.
4. To explore the antecedents and correlates of institutional choice among female trainees.

Collaborative Training Practices and Canada's Trade Unions
Daniel Glenday, Brock University

Over the past several years, a great deal has been written from various perspectives about the deterioration of Canada's productivity performance and our eroding position in world markets. To overcome many of the disadvantages in lost competitiveness of Canada's economy, all stakeholders including business and government agree with the adoption of new Information & Communication Technologies (ICT). In addition to the application of information and communications technologies in all sectors of the Canadian economy, what else is needed to regain Canada's competitiveness in world markets? This research constitutes one of the first attempts to collect and analyze case study materials of collaborative work between trade unionists and their counterparts in the private, government and para-government agencies in the area of training and retraining of employees in the use of ICT.

Union Influence on Formal Training, Informal Learning and Apprenticeships Provision: Canadian and International Perspectives
David Livingstone, OISE

This project adapts the basic Labour Force Survey (LFS) methodology and revised sampling procedures applied in earlier Adult Education and Training Survey (AETS) secondary data analyses of unionization and education. It will profile socio-demographic characteristics for unionized and non-unionized employees. The findings on the relative effects of specific occupational class, industrial sector and specific enterprise characteristics on the learning and training profiles of unionized and non-unionized workers, using several comparable surveys on participation in different forms of learning, confirm the important role that union bargaining power has on access to and participation in education and training in contemporary Canadian society.
In light of the chronic shortages and recent serious decline in Canadian apprenticeship training provision, both of these databases provide opportunities for comparative analysis of the provision of apprenticeship programs in relation to unionization and other structural factors such as sector, firm size and management orientation. This study of the most recent data on union status and learning activities is intended to provide unions with comparative insights into what training provisions interest and attract this increasingly highly educated labour force.

Vocational Training for Women: Private and Public Training Options
Paul Anisef, York University
Robert Sweet, Lakehead University

This project analyzes issues of gender in adult training, beginning with the role of proprietary schools and colleges in enabling individuals to acquire intermediate/applied skills. A disproportionate number of women are engaged in precarious work -- characterized by low pay, intermittent employment, and little career-development potential. At the same time, women (more than men) are persuaded that formal training is a means of labour market mobility. Some 54% of career-tech program enrolments in community colleges are female. The proprietary schools also are significant 'players' in the Canadian training sector, currently enrolling 30% of those adults undertaking formal, institutional training. Proprietary schools are widely perceived as representing an alternative to the community college and a means of expanding the country's vocational training capacity. The principle concern in this study is whether proprietary schools not only enhance training capacity but also contribute to equity in training. The equity group indicator is gender -- reflecting the divergent training histories of men and women. The situation of women of different ages (and life-course stages) is emphasized in the analyses. The antecedents and correlates of women's preference for either the proprietary or college option is also explored in detail. The project objectives are:

1. To examine gender differences among proprietary and college trainees in respect of individual characteristics, support systems, motivational patterns, and response to the different institutional features.
2. Controlling for individual characteristics, to examine the impact on institutional choice of differences in respondents' support structures, motivational orientations, and preferences for specific institutional features (e.g. duration).
3. To detail these differences in relation to age and gender.
4. To explore the antecedents and correlates of institutional choice among female trainees.

Apprenticeship in Canada: Innovative Approaches to Attract and Maintain a Workforce in the Skilled Trades
Karen Charnow Lior, Executive Director, Toronto Training Board
Arlene Wortsman, Independent Researcher

Canada's skilled workforce is in decline. The skilled trades labour force is
not reproducing itself and this is a concern for policy makers, educators,
unions and employers. While in recent years there has been a great deal of
research that examined the barriers to apprenticeship,little has been published
that provides insight into what is working, why and where.
This study we describes new and innovative practices in the established and
emerging trades,identifying and highlighting approaches that are successfully
attracting and retaining apprentices in Canada.
The objectives of the research are:

1. To identify best or promising practices related to apprenticeship in
   Canada.
2. To highlight important findings and lessons for other apprenticeship
   programs.
3. To include examples reflecting regional, sectoral, language and gender
   diversity.