Youth apprenticeship programs

Two Canadian provinces have youth apprenticeship programs that allow students to combine their last 2 years of high school with a regular apprenticeship program: the Secondary School Workplace Apprenticeship Program (SSWAP) in Ontario and the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) in Alberta.

SSWAP allows students to work toward an Ontario secondary school graduation diploma while accumulating apprenticeship hours that will lead to certified status as a "journey person."

In Lincoln County, Ontario, students enter the trade of their choice through regular cooperative education classes at the grade 11 level. This cooperative education experience is a probationary period, during which the student decides whether he or she wishes to pursue the trade and the employer decides whether the student is an appropriate apprentice. If all parties agree to make a commitment, the Ministry of Skills Development will designate the student as an apprentice at the end of the grade 11 school year. Students who are accepted continue to work through the summer as paid apprentices. In the fall or winter semester, they move back to secondary school, enrolling in regular classes for one full semester of grade 12. One trade-related course must be included at this time. The other grade 12 semester is spent at the workplace.

Students receive cooperative education credits, apprenticeship hours, and pay. All in-school compulsory courses are completed and students remain registered in school for the entire period. Students may return for a 5th year of secondary schooling to earn Ontario academic credits, continue in the apprenticeship, or both. This system leaves apprenticeship candidates with the same options as all other secondary school diploma holders, if they choose to leave the program at the end of grade 12.