Apprenticeship is increasingly seen as a promising option for policy makers. An apprenticeship offers a chance to find further education and a place in society and the workplace. In an increasing number of countries, apprenticeship is available to mature-aged workers, providing a chance for a career change or re-entry into the workforce. The sixth International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship (INAP) conference was held at the Federation University Australia in Ballarat, Victoria on 1-2 September 2015. The publication contains all the papers presented at the conference. The conference demonstrated the diversity of approaches to apprenticeship in practice. It also highlighted the need to share experiences from country-specific developments and that the learning process and knowledge base of apprenticeship is continuously growing and developing. The most popular themes for papers at the conference were: (1) governance, including stakeholders' roles and responsibilities; (2) vocational education and training (VET) teaching and learning; (3) quality in apprenticeship; and (4) school to work transition and youth employment.
Introductions to the conference were provided by Philipp Gonon, Erica Smith and David Battersby. The keynotes were as follows: Two distinct conceptions of apprenticeship / Stephen Billett; Can traditional apprenticeships in the informal economy of least developed countries be integrated as legitimate pathways in formal skills development systems? [keynote address] / Paul Comyn; Developing T-shaped people: transforming skills into skilfulness to meet the demands of the 21st century workplace / Raymond Patel. Section one, 'Governance and stakeholders', contains the following papers: A history of apprenticeship and trade training in Victoria, Australia / Mike Brown; Exploration and practice of modern apprenticeship training with school-enterprise dual system: a case study of Guangzhou Industry and Trade Technician College / Weiqun Tang; Associations between adaptation of German-style vocational education models and impact on apprenticeship pathways in regional American labour markets / Nicholas M. Wyman and Joanne B. Gedge; Governance and financing of dual VET: foundation of an evaluation framework and findings of a comparative research in five European countries / Ursel Hauschildt and Wolfgang Wittig; Insights in governance of vocational education from a historical perspective / Volker Bank; The governance framework for VET school-enterprise cooperation in China at the local level / Haisheng Pan; Irish apprenticeship system reform 2013 to date / Maurice Doran; Stakeholders in the German and the Swiss VET system and their role in innovating apprenticeships / Thomas Deissinger and Philipp Gonon; Research and practice on 'tripartite collaboration' of innovative apprenticeship / Jinlan Wang and Yuqi Chen; Modern apprenticeship as a supplement to the school based vocational education system in China / Zhiqun Zhao and Junlan Chen; Development and definition of National Occupational Standards (NOS) as the curriculum basis for vocational education and training (VET) / Willi Peterson and Maik Jepsen; Why apprentices drop out in Australia and the policy implications / Phil Loveder. Section two, 'Teaching and learning in apprenticeships', contains: Competence measurement in South Africa: teachers' reactions to feedback on COMET results / Helen Brown; Research on the modern apprenticeship based on the talents training mode of the national skill master studio: the construction of the Lingnan Industrial Art Inheriting Base / Ye Junfeng and Luo Wei; Me siento bien en mi centro de formacion - I feel good at my training institution: results of an international competence assessment in nursing / Ursel Hauschildt; Teaching and learning research in master studio apprenticeship training / Bamei Yang, Kejing Li, Bin Bai and Enmin Zhai; School-based technician training under the framework of modern apprenticeship: experiences from a pilot program in Guangzhou / Donglian Gu; Improving the dynamics of feedback through deploying mobile technology-enhanced learning during pre-apprenticeship / Selena Chan; Skilled trade worker to a teacher of high school youth: a little bit of luck and a lot of courage / Bonnie Watt; Pre-apprenticeships towards apprenticeships using practice-focused learning / James Cannan; Learning as an apprentice: a comparative study on affordances for vocational learning in school and work life apprentice education / Magnus Fjellstrom and Per Kristmansson.
Section three, 'What makes a high quality apprenticeship', contains: Working process knowledge acquiring and working tasks research: a case study of technician apprenticeship training in Guangzhou Technician College / Xiang Geng, Bin Bai, Bamei Yang and Enmin Zhai; On motivations, predicament, and countermeasures of the modern continuation of China's handicraft apprenticeship / Liangcai Xie; Using apprenticeship as a whole-of-workforce training strategy: what are the effects on training quality? / Erica Smith; Efficacy of CBQ (cost benefit and quality) as an advisory tool to optimise cost-effectiveness and quality development of in-company apprenticeship training / Lusanda Bantwini and Tsholo Mungoni. Section four, 'Economic investment and benefit of apprenticeship', contains: A qualitative assessment of the United Services Military Apprenticeship Program (USMAP) / Robert I. Lerman and Devlin Hanson; Concerns, costs and calculation for apprenticeship: who invests? who benefits? how? / Michaela Marterer and Peter Hartel. Section five, 'School to work transition and youth employment', contains: Creating pathways to enhance college to work transition using COMET competence diagnostic model to assess and develop occupational competence and commitment in technical vocational education and training (TVET) / Patricia Jacobs; Application and contrastive analysis of the different apprenticeship training modes for automobile majors: taking Guangzhou Communications Technician Institute as an example / Cai Changwen; Higher apprentices' transition from school to work: case analysis on the education of technicians in Guangzhou Technician College, in China / Zongguo Li and Hao Wu; Working their way to school completion: school-based apprenticeships and traineeships for young Australians / Kira Clarke, Malgorzata Klatt, Nicky Dulfer and Emlyn Cruickshank. Section six, 'Status of apprenticeship as a career path', contains: Apprenticeships should work for women too: supporting meaningful exploration of 'non-traditional careers' for young women / Linda Simon and Kira Clarke. Section seven, 'Apprenticeship's contribution to social justice', contains: The development of skills for sustainability for Australian apprentices and trainees during the UN Decade of Education and Sustainable Development 2005-2014 / Mike Brown and Fabian Sack; A quest for social justice: exploring the possibility of expanding the South African apprenticeship system to provide access to informal apprentices / Ansa Leibenberg. Additional presentations [full papers not submitted] were: Preparing TVET graduates from small Pacific nations for international employment / Antoine Barnaart; Apprenticeship in former Soviet Union countries: the role of employer organisations and intermediary bodies / Didier Gelibert and Helmut Zelloth; Women in the auto trades: views from employers, tradeswomen and apprentices / Hugh Guthrie, Anne Jones and Berwyn Clayton; The role of regional occupational standards and potential for apprenticeships in ASEAN countries / Bob Paton.
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