1. What are the considerations for work study in Practical and Applied Arts?

Work Study is optional within the PAA curricula. Students may move beyond the confines of the classroom and the school into the community as learners. Some of this learning may take place in a work environment. Students leaving the school to participate in an optional work study module may do so as bona fide students if they participate as learners rather than employees. They may receive no remuneration for the time spent in the workplace because they are there as learners. In communities where a broad range of work sites are not available, students may complete the work study component of the curriculum in a workplace environment within the school.

Work study provides the student(s) with an opportunity to explore and experience, the world of work within the context of a particular PAA subject. For instance, students studying autobody may be afforded the option to spend 25-50 hours in the workplace gaining practical experience in the autobody occupations. This experience may assist students making career development decisions and should provide opportunities for the development of generic employability skills, as well as the opportunity to refine specific occupational skills.

Teachers and school division personnel planning to implement the optional work study component in any of the curricula are encouraged to use the Career and Work Exploration 10, 20, A30, B30 Curriculum Guide (2002) or the Work Study Guidelines in the Practical and Applied Arts Handbook as they plan and implement the new modules. It will be necessary to include time for a teacher-monitor or coordinator to explore the availability of workplace sites and to place students, as well as to monitor student learning during the work study. Also, it will be necessary to develop a training plan, and to establish a partnership with the worksite supervisor and employer to optimize quality student learning during the work study module. A variety of templates are included in the appendices of the Career and Work Exploration 10, 20, A30, B30 Curriculum Guide (2002) that will assist with student placement and with evaluation of the student and worksite. Policy for the monitoring of all students in a work study must be followed.

In those Career and Work Exploration courses where students gain experiences in the workplace for the purposes of learning more about work, for developing generic employability skills, and for exploring work-based learning (WBL) potential career decisions before they must be made in a real sense, students are using WBL for exploratory purposes. Those students who use WBL to develop or enhance skills specific to a particular occupation (e.g., Welding) are pursuing skills development in a work study approach. In either case, a variety of factors are exactly the same and similar considerations must be made. These guidelines are designed to support either approach.

The policy describes three necessary components within an effective transition-to-work program: a school-based component; a work-based component; and, a linkage component. The PAA curriculum courses and modules provide opportunities for student learning within the confines of the school as well as opportunities to gain valuable workplace experience in the context of the particular occupational cluster(s) in which the student is studying. There are many ways to link the learning at school with the experiences in the workplace.

Each of the PAA courses incorporates the transition-to-work dimensions. These dimensions are also addressed in Middle Level Career Guidance and are being more clearly incorporated into other curricula as they are renewed.

In all courses, there may be objectives designed to assist students in developing generic employability skills and, in certain courses, there may also be opportunities for students to develop specific occupational skills. Issues of articulation are being addressed, and, wherever possible, agreements providing transfer credit or advanced standing in a subsequent post-secondary education or training program may be negotiated as part of the provincial curriculum development process.

All of the PAA courses and modules have been designed to provide students with ways to develop personal skills, to enhance career development through awareness and exploration, and, where appropriate, to provide career education and training. In terms of transition, such opportunities may assist students in developing independence as well as developing and refining employability and occupational skills.

One of the key aspects of the new PAA curriculum is the modular framework and the built-in flexibility it affords. In each of the course areas, some modules are identified as core and others as optional. Schools and school divisions are encouraged to configure modules into pure or survey one credit (1.0) courses of 100 hours each. The configuration selected will depend on such factors as student interest and ability, school and community facilities available, staffing and other personnel, labour market opportunity, student career development decisions, and formal articulation agreements.

The PAA curricula are flexible and facilitative in assisting schools and school divisions to select course offerings that will meet the needs of their students, their schools, and their communities.

Many modules in the new PAA curriculum guidelines do not require a specialized facility or equipment for successful implementation. Other modules and courses require only limited equipment. Still other modules requiring specialized equipment and facilities (e.g., Autobody) suggest supplementing the school facility with a work study component within a business in the community that has such equipment. This also offers the students an opportunity to experience the workplace while refining the skills and abilities outlined in the curriculum.

Because of the flexible, modular PAA framework, schools and school divisions are able to configure modules into courses to meet the opportunities and constraints of the school and the community. The optional extended study and work study modules in each of the courses also allow the school and school division to enhance, extend, or specialize a portion of the course to match a particular community need or opportunity.

Saskatchewan Learning recognizes the difficulty in securing and maintaining the necessary facilities and equipment to continue to offer PAA courses with the most up-to-date features. The establishment of community partnerships is encouraged to give students the opportunity to gain skills and experience utilizing current facilities and equipment within community businesses or industry.

Students identified as bona fide students by a school division are covered by the Workers' Compensation Agreement between Saskatchewan Learning and the Workers' Compensation Board, provided they are in the workplace as learners, regardless of age. In order to ensure coverage, all students participating in work-based learning must be registered by the school division with the Regional Office of Learning.

According to the Agreement, Saskatchewan Learning is named as the employer for all students participating in the workplace as learners. Students may not receive any remuneration for the time spent in the workplace as learners.

This Agreement pertains only to students attending provincial schools. Currently, students from First Nations, federal schools, independent schools and students placed in out-of-province work sites are not covered under this Agreement. Alternate arrangements for insurance should be made.

Many students are offered part-time employment or summer employment as a direct result of work-based learning. Students receiving salary at any time are excluded from the Agreement described above. They are considered to be the same as regular employees and should be treated accordingly by workplace employers.

Transfer credit refers to high school graduation credit and post-secondary education or training program credit that students receive for work completed prior to high school graduation. Students successfully completing high school courses in the designated trades areas may have completed all of the competencies and skills required in the Apprenticeship Level I of that trade and will be provided the opportunity to write the appropriate Level I Examination administered by the Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission of Saskatchewan. Successful completion of the Level I examination will allow enrolment in SIAST programs in trade areas as a Level I apprentice. Students may not proceed to Level II until the minimum number of hours of work experience have been completed and recognized.

Advanced standing and Prior Learning Recognition refers to the assessment of learning completed prior to registration in a post-secondary education or training program where work completed during the Secondary Level is similar to the learning included in a portion of the post-secondary education or training program. When this is the case, students are allowed to advance or proceed to the place within the post-secondary program where new learning not covered in the high school curriculum begins.

Time credit refers to recognition of the number of hours of experience within a particular trade the student has acquired. Students completing high school courses in the designated trades at the Secondary Level may receive time credit, for time spent with a journeyperson in the trade, for both theory and practical experience acquired prior to high school completion, if they register as apprentices in the designated trade area following high school (providing all necessary requirements are met).

Additional information is available in High School to Apprenticeship: A Link to the Future (revised 2001) published by the Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission.

School divisions are encouraged to contact the Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission prior to placing students in the community in order to verify the journeyperson status of workplace supervisors, to complete the necessary recordkeeping, and to guarantee that time credit will be awarded to a student who, subsequent to high school completion, registers as an apprentice in a designated trade(s).

Legislation requires that teachers of students in the K-12 system are certified by the Board of Teacher Education and Certification (BTEC).

Summer short courses to train certified teachers to be able to teach Level I theory and practice in a trade are offered in the summer. Requirements for qualification may vary.

Saskatchewan Labour has developed several instructional resources to support school-based and work-based learning, with particular focus on resources for the more than 30 Practical and Applied Arts courses, including the new Career and Workplace Exploration and Law courses. The long-term goal is to provide students and teachers with Ready for Work (RFW) activity options.

Ready for Work Resource Modules

Saskatchewan Labour has additional print and video resources on health and safety and labour standards issues that supplement the RFW resource binder.

Guide for New Workers

Saskatchewan Labour awareness and education materials include the comprehensive Guide for New Workers, a pocket-sized handbook, which is also available on the RFW website. The guide contains practical information to help young people make a successful transition from school to work. The information provided on over 30 topics is based on the questions most commonly asked by young workers. Career planning, personal reference information and a calendar are included to encourage retention of the guide and to allow students to personalize it. The topics are organized by the four phases of the job cycle: entering/re-entering the labour market, starting a job, during and leaving a job.

Saskatchewan Labour partners with the Saskatchewan Professional Development Unit (SPDU) of the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation to provide workshops that help teachers make use of the Ready for Work materials. SPDU will provide regional workshops to Practical and Applied Arts teachers from across the province in 2002-2003. Feedback from hundreds of teachers will continually improve the RFW materials.