Most apprenticeship programs require that the candidate have a job before starting the program; hence, guidance counsellors are remote from a decision to enter apprenticeship. Nevertheless, counsellors need to know about this system and provide full information to young people about the qualifications for apprenticeship. They must also present these options objectively.
"White collar" apprenticeships are not well known. They are available to workers in banking, credit granting, and accounting jobs, who are enrolled in formal training programs (sometimes by correspondence) to acquire accreditation. Counsellors have little or no information about these sorts of opportunities.
In-school counsellors must consider the context in which they operate and the public they address. Most high-school students do not go on to post-secondary education; some leave high school before graduation. If career and employment counselling, also called guidance counselling in the school system, is to be relevant to all students, it must present a range of accessible opportunities.
In carrying out their responsibilities, counsellors should support gender-free models or models encouraging women to enter nontraditional occupations, such as the Women In Trades and Technology (WITT) program (see box, below).
The Women in Trades and Technology (WITT) network
The national WITT network is an education and advocacy organization that promotes and assists in the recruitment, training, and successful employment of women in trades, technology, operations, and blue collar work. WITT is a communications and support network for women and groups working locally, provincially, and regionally.
We recommended an expansion of career education courses early in the school system and cooperative education in secondary schools. In such a context, counsellors should take an active role in the schools in promoting and supporting initiatives to develop tools to complement career education courses and to help students and teachers create a bridge between experience in the world of work and curriculum-related activities. A variety of such tools is presented earlier in this chapter (see section on Education).