Submission to the Ministry of Education on Accelerated Apprenticeship Pathway Consultation

From the perspective of your organization, what are the strengths and weaknesses of model 1? Which of these strengths should be included in the final model implemented? The leading position of OSSTF/FEESO is that students should not be encouraged to leave school early. [...] From the perspective of your organization, what are the strengths and weaknesses of model 2? Which of these strengths should be included in the final model implemented? Again, for the purpose of responding to the specific ask of this consultation, which is to provide targeted feedback on only these proposed models, we propose that Model 2 is inferior to Model 1. [...] If a student decides to return to school before completing an apprenticeship, what supports would be required to facilitate reintegration of the student into the school and board? The student would need to have an individualized transition plan that identifies what types of supports would be necessary for them to bridge back into classes. [...] What supports would need to be in place to ensure that students’ needs related to mental health and well-being are addressed? To help support the decisions of young people engaged in the arduous process of configuring their career pathways, a number of supportive initiatives could be implemented to help with their mental health and well-being. [...] One of the objectives outlined in this consultation espouses that the accelerated apprenticeship pathway will “enable more students to enter the skilled trades faster and bolster Ontario’s skilled workforce.” Our belief is that adolescents should not be encouraged to leave school early, and particularly not to fill a labour market shortage without sufficient and careful consideration of what is be.