The Skilled Hub Episode 1 & 2 – The Message Dilemma & The Employer Perspective
November 29, 2021
France Daviault, Executive Director of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum hosts a new podcast in January called the Skilled Hub, as she chats with guests about what’s behind the numbers that led to the skills gap in the trades over the years. Is it the message? The process or the system? Get behind what the numbers really mean and what needs to happen to affect change.
In episodes 1 and 2 The Skilled Hub explores whether the generic messages still fit. In Episode 1, we discuss what information is currently provided to young people in schools and whether or not they have impact on the skills gap. Guests Shaun Thorson, CEO of Skills Canada and Charlene Hayes, teacher with the OCDSB join CAF-FCA Executive Director France Daviault to discuss their perspectives on what is working and not with Canada’s messaging to youth about careers in the skilled trades.
Youth have been given the messages that apprenticeship is an ‘alternative’ to college and university and that right out of high school you can go ‘earn why you learn’. Combine that with the messages around labour shortages in the skilled trades and people are confused. Why then do youth face such barriers in getting into the apprenticeship stream and finding employers to take them on if there’s a labour shortage? In Episode 2 The Skilled Hub ask the employers that question.
