A new program about the skilled trades will be piloted in schools across Calgary and will expose young school children to non-academic career streams at an early age.
The Calgary Construction Association (CCA) announced Monday that it will bring a skilled-trades curriculum to more than 30,000 elementary students across the city starting this school year. The Honour The Work program will be piloted in around 850 classrooms across the Calgary Board of Education and Calgary Catholic School District.
According to a news release, the curriculum aims to inspire children to consider careers in the skilled trades because of a labour shortage in the construction industry. The program will bring STEAMS (Science, Technology, Arts, Math, Skills) kits designed for students in Grades 1 to 6, which will offer hands-on activities and lesson plans.
Tamy Amstutz, director of workforce strategies for the CCA, said it is important for kids to explore different career options outside of academia at an early age. She said many skilled trades classes aren’t offered until a kid enters junior or senior high.
“When we look at a lot of the research and studies coming out now, most of the career exploration between parents and their kids is happening at Grades 5 and 6, and around that time the stigma has already been established in kids around construction,” she told LiveWire Calgary.
“For us having this opportunity with Honour the Work to begin focusing earlier, allows us to expand that continuum of somebody considering a construction career. Hopefully we’re seeing a lot of compounding impacts as a result of the program.”
Amstutz said the program will foster creativity while also aligning with the new Alberta curriculum’s learning outcomes. For example, Grade 2 students will use sugar cubes, icing and trowels to learn how to be little “stonemasons.”
“This isn’t an addition for teachers to bring into classrooms. This is a supplement. There’s a huge lack of resources right now with the new curriculum. So it’s a much needed supplement,” the director added.
“We want to be able to engage with kids, teachers and parents to showcase all of the rewarding opportunities in the construction industry for careers.”
The CCA is also working to bridge the elementary school programs so kids will feel more prepared when they enter junior high school. The “ED squad” – which consists of representatives from manufacturing, residential, construction law and general contracting business – are speaking with school boards in Calgary to help bridge the elementary and junior high programs.
“We’re talking with school boards in Calgary already, and hope to have some more announcements coming over the following months,” Amstutz said.
Encouraging girls to join the trades
The Honour The Work program will also encourage girls to consider a career in the skilled trades. In 2019, around 16.4 per cent of the manufacturing and utilities workforce are women. Around 8.7 per cent of trades, transport and equipment operators were women in 2019.
While it’s a huge step up from 2009 numbers, Amstutz said more needs to be done to attract more women into skilled trades.
“Surprisingly, Alberta actually has quite a high rate of women in the construction industry and women in trades … We’ve actually made a lot of headway in Alberta already on this,” Amstutz said.
“There are some incredible organizations in Alberta with a hyperfocus on getting women into trades … What we’re here for is to support the not-for-profits and charities that are actually already focused in this space.
“We want to start bringing these representatives into elementary, junior and high schools to speak to the kids. The Day of the Girl is coming up. So, we’re looking at how we can maybe have women in trades come in and read these books to kids in schools.”
Parents will be engaged
Amstutz said the CCA will be engaging with parents to address public perceptions about skilled trades programs in Calgary.
This includes a three-part engagement process, which include a survey that goes out to parents, teachers and kids at the beginning, middle and end of the school year. The survey will give the CCA metrics and other statistics about the current public perceptions around skilled trades workers.
There will also be initiatives for parents who may not know how to support their children who choose the apprenticeship pathway.
“[Skilled trades graduates] generally don’t have student debt by the end of their three to four year program. They will have made anywhere from $60,000 to $120,000 during their apprenticeship journey, depending on the trade,” Amstutz said.
“The rate of people who are owning their own business or working their way off of the tools into the office and then into leadership positions is high.
“We really do hope that Honour The Work begins to inspire the kids to be creative. Skilled trades are creative. I think we can really easily draw that line, and if kids are able to express their creativity through these skilled trades opportunities at a younger age, they’re going to be able to bring that home and again, through resources that are a part of Honour The Work.”
