Improving Student Employability Through a Pre-Apprenticeship Program in Career and Technical Education : Developing a Pre-Apprenticeship Program

According to a report published by ed.gov (2019) there are currently 7,136,00 unfilled jobs in the United States. The gap in available jobs and individuals to fill those jobs has never been greater. A large portion of these unfilled jobs are in the area of skilled trades. Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships are avenues many times used to fill these positions. Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships, according to Dr. Lee Burket in her opening remarks at the 2020 Education and Workforce Development Symposium, are the oldest instructional models in education. As the Director of the Huntingdon County Career and Technology Center (HCCTC) I am looking to create a pre-apprenticeship in one or more of the programs offered at HCCTC for the 2020-21 school year. Creating a pre-apprenticeship program will help connect companies and businesses looking for skilled employees with students from HCCTC. The Huntingdon County Career and Technology Center will work hand-in-hand with these employers to create a meaningful curriculum as well as the required hands on instruction needed. Finding employer sponsors, developing a curriculum, and implementing a pre-apprenticeship program was the basis for this action research project. A mixed-method research approach was used for this project, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Instructors at the HCCTC were interviewed using a semi-structured interview process to gather qualitative information. Employers in Huntingdon, Mifflin and Juniata counties were given an online survey to complete. These surveys generated quantitative data and those outcomes were triangulated with the semi-structured interview results to measure the overall attitudes and knowledge about pre-apprenticeships. The results were used to create a pre-apprenticeship program for the 2020-21 school year.