Social Justice for TVET in Ontario, Canada

1. Access & Equity for Ontario Electricians,
a Canadian dilemma
• TVET is in a process of frustration in Ontario due to its transition systems
that reinforce inequity and limit access.
• I’ve utilized qualitative methods and constructivist theory to establish
findings that questions the lack of policy and identifies Vocational
Education as a form of higher ed in crisis for Canadians living in Ontario.
• An exploratory descriptive approach demonstrated challenges and to avoid
judgmental, directive and biased outcomes, I migrated risk by interview
stakeholders seeking what I thought would be competing values. The
concerns of interviewees were surprisingly similar because of dysfunction
of TVET systems in the province .
• Additionally, the exploratory descriptive approach was necessary to access
authentic voices as there’s little accessible research in this area that reflects
the concerns of tradespeople in Ontario.
• Electricians were selected because of they’re highly enfranchised status. In
doing so, my work revealed a strong link of nepotism, network and social
capital in high end vocational training.

2. Ontario, has the lowest national completion
rates in Canada
• Despite a blended economy where Canada utilizes socialistic values of public welfare and social
justice, the integrated approach of the Germanic model doesn’t drive economy or policies.
Canada is marketized.
• Speaking to stakeholders, educators and tradespeople all referenced the dual educational
approach of Germany without comprehension that’s it structures are non-transferable and policy
sharing, or learning isn’t possible so there’s an inherent tension within the structure.
• Ontario, the wealthiest province in Canada possess an inborn prejudice both politically and
socially to higher education that subscribes to a “university or bust’ mentality.
• According to Statistics Canada, in 2017, only 8.8% of adults in the province completed a
certificate or ‘ticket’ in skills training with a skewed rate of 54% of Ontario graduates emerging
from college or university.
• German equivalents are assigned a “master craftsman” rather than a “ticket” highlighting issues
starting with nomenclature. Progressive classism in Ontario lifts higher paid vocations such as
commerce, insurance, nursing etc.. All of which are delivered in higher status institutions that
regulate apprenticeship as practicums, internships etc..

3. A brief history….
• Unlike the dual system in Europe with tradespeople progressing into publicly available,
structured apprenticeships, opportunities for diverse placements and further education
as a master, Ontario is run by a system of nepotism. It’s rare to find a prospective
electrician without a network that found them both the training and employment
opportunity. Hence access and equity are problematic as information scarcity and expert
interpretation is necessary for entry.
• In Ontario, you need social capital meaning a parent, relative, friend or mentor to enter
the field and secure apprenticeship which pre-1980, it was level access.
• The higher educational opportunities post-master, don’t exist in Canada. The bias of
university credentials, prevails and credentialism is a serious problem in Ontario as
education acts as its own economy. Trades education in Eastern area of Canada was
conceived by Church and State as repository for the disenfranchised.
• Current Ontario literature bills vocational education, as an option for the less
academically inclined, yet many trades like carpentry, plumbing and electrical require a
grounding in mathematics and physics.
• With the advent of colleges in the late 60’s, skills training was removed from Ontario high
school curriculum where youth had a dual pathway to academics and trades embedded
in high school electives.

4. The heart of the problem:
• The routes accessing skills training, specifically that of electricians,
demonstrates how advising and counselling are critical to
construction trades but operate in a dysmorphic orientation.
• There is no seamless registration system or organizational vigor,
career advisement or unified support for employers, educators and
students.
• Employment and Training Consultants who shadow and advocate for
apprentices have been reduced to desk jockeys who are ineffectual
• Nepotism and credentialism are products of a fractured system

5. • Canadians have little to no exposure to TVET in high school which keeps this pathway
invisible, yet policy directs high need or learning challenged students to this avenue.
• Ontario has a liberal market orientation which passes responsibilities on to students to
find information that’s difficult to impossible to access. If a prospective doesn’t know
someone in the trades to explain the system, it’s a confusing tangle of conflicting
misinformation.
• In Germany, it’s a requirement to have diversified training to expose an apprentice to
rich, diverse learning that might not happen without advocacy. Apprenticeship in Ontario
is often connected to mentors who have sponsored them and dictate how, and if, they
will develop holistic skills.
• The systematic organization in Germany matches an apprentice with an advisor that
shadows their journey. In Ontario, this structure has been dismantled to create efficiency,
save money and liberate employers from bureaucracy.
• German ‘masters’ have access to higher education (Nikolai & Ebner 2012) to continue
into blended forms of research and training. Tradespeople in Ontario do not have access
to such schooling although the study group revealed that many have university
credentials in addition to being trained electricians. Credentialism is a serious problem in
Ontario.
Ontario vs Germany:

6. • Ontario possesses a polarizing system of bureaucracy,
disenfranchisement and stratification versus the Germanic, which is
integrative, projects industry need, and close or open streams based
on economic need.
• TVET lacks political relevance despite its acknowledged importance to
the provincial and national economy. Historical fragmentation,
curriculum, social and institutional inequity, unhelpful policies, and
finally, government and institutional managerialism have s
handicapped the trades.
• The lack of transparency and support reinforces a clear message that
Ontario is a province open for business supported by academic
education vis a vis universities and colleges, not trades or skills.
Ontario vs Germany:

7. Findings:
• High school advisement requires reformulation as it currently acts as an
extension of mental health support and student conduct hence scope
creep has left no time for advisement.
• Employers need to be integrated into a comprehensive, simple to
maneuver system where they are matched, tracked and provided access
with prospective apprentices.
• Employment and Training Consultants or ETCs are no longer in the field and
reinstated must occur. Non-unionized apprentices are at the highest risk of
being disenfranchized because there is no ETC advocacy and unintended
abuse of apprentices can happen without an employer’s knowledge.
Employment injustice carries serious social consequences and poor
educational outcomes.
• Without social capital to comprehend the landscape, either through family
or a combination of advocates it’s difficult to secure and navigate an
apprenticeship.

8. Findings:
• Stakeholders revealed that there is social injustice, no adequate delivery
portal to match applicants to employers, credential creep, the need for
social capital, a lack of diversity, inconsistent mentorship, and a clash of
market driven transition systems and humanistic sentiments of, essential
service workers that suffer social stigma for being tradespeople.
• Throughout the interviews, it was clear that delivery mismatch exists
because of the idea that a knowledge-based economy excludes the trades.
• Ontario’s socio-political framework fractures education functioning in
opposition to the labour market so that the trades exist in a vacuum.
• The reason why the clash of values has not reached a critical crisis, is
primarily, a strong economy that masks fundamental problems of historical
dysfunction.

9. Exploratory findings from stakeholders:
To move the trades into a revitalized, leadership role in the face of
globalization. Ontario needs to ….
• 1. study and explore a realistic advisement model, as the current one
is inadequate and broken
• 2. construct a blended employer integration strategy starting with a
uniform registration system
• 3. develop a plan for digitalization and research similar to our
Germanic counterparts