Internship, Mentorship and Apprenticeship

Keywords < Internship, Mentorship, Apprenticeship, Apprenticing, Traineeship Discipleship, Guru-Shishya Tradition >

Comparing between Internship and Apprenticeship

ReSearch on Internship, Mentorship and Apprenticeships

Institutions and Organisations

• Apprenticeships - http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/
• U.S. Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration Apprenticeship Website - http://www.doleta.gov/OA/eta_default.cfm
• Vocational Information Center Apprenticeship Training Resources - http://www.khake.com/page58.htm

CONCEPTS on MENTORSHIP

What is Mentorship?

• A Relationship
  • Learning and development partnership
• Where more experience/knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced/knowledgeable person
• in an area of expertise
• Affecting the whole person in areas of
  • psychosocial support
  • career guidance
  • role modeling
  • communication

Historical Context and Significance

• Mentor in Homer's Odyssey and Athena guiding young Telemachus
• Guru-disciple tradition in Hinduism and Buddhism
• Elders/ discipleship system in Judaism and christian church
• Apprenticing under Medieval Guild System

What are the different Mentoring Techniques

• based on Aubrey, Bob & Cohen, Paul (1995). Working Wisdom: Timeless Skills and Vanguard Strategies for Learning Organizations. Jossey Bass. pp. 23, 44–47, 96–97.

• Accompanying: making a commitment in a caring way, which involves taking part in the learning process side-by-side with the learner.
• Sowing: mentors are often confronted with the difficulty of preparing the learner before he or she is ready to change. Sowing is necessary when you know that what you say may not be understood or even acceptable to learners at first but will make sense and have value to the mentee when the situation requires it.
• Catalyzing: when change reaches a critical level of pressure, learning can escalate. Here the mentor chooses to plunge the learner right into change, provoking a different way of thinking, a change in identity or a re-ordering of values.
• Showing: this is making something understandable, or using your own example to demonstrate a skill or activity. You show what you are talking about, you show by your own behavior.
• Harvesting: here the mentor focuses on "picking the ripe fruit": it is usually used to create awareness of what was learned by experience and to draw conclusions. The key questions here are: "What have you learned?", "How useful is it?".

• "Teachable Moments to expand or realise potentialities of the people in organisations they lead" By Kouzes and Posner
• Multiple mentors: A new and upcoming trend is having multiple mentors.[14] This can be helpful because we can all learn from each other. Having more than one mentor will widen the knowledge of the person being mentored. There are different mentors who may have different strengths.
• Profession or trade mentor: This is someone who is currently in the trade/profession you are entering. They know the trends, important changes and new practices that you should know to stay at the top of your career. A mentor like this would be someone you can discuss ideas regarding the field, and also be introduced to key and important people that you should know.
• Industry mentor: This is someone who doesn't just focus on the profession. This mentor will be able to give insight on the industry as a whole. Whether it be research, development or key changes in the industry, you need to know.
• Organization mentor: Politics in the organizations are constantly changing. It is important to be knowledgeable about the values, strategies and products that are within your company, but also when these things are changing. An organization mentor can clarify missions and strategies, and give clarity when needed.
• Work process mentor: This mentor can speed quickly over the bumps, and cut through the unnecessary work. This mentor can explain the 'ins and outs' of projects, day to day tasks, and eliminate unnecessary things that may be currently going on in your work day. This mentor can help to get things done quickly and efficiently.
• Technology mentor: This is an up-and-coming, incredibly important position. Technology has been rapidly improving, and becoming more a part of day to day transactions within companies. In order to perform your best, you must know how to get things done on the newest technology. A technology mentor will help with technical breakdowns, advise on systems that may work better than what you're currently using, and coach you through new technology and how to best use it and implement it into your daily life.
• Formal Vs Informal Mentoring relationships
• Peer, Situational and Supervisory Mentorships

Reference

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentorship
• 8 Types of Mentors: Which Ones do you need? http://www.masteryworks.com/newsite/downloads/Article3_EightTypesofMentors-WhichOnesdoyouNeed.pdf

CONCEPTS ON APPRENTICESHIP

See Educational Concepts on Apprenticeship (Learning)

What is Apprenticeship?

• System of Training Of New Generation of Practitioners of a Trade or Profession With
  • on-the-job training
  • some classroom work and reading
• Enables the gaining of a license to practice in a regulated profession
• Usually in skilled labor, Trade and Vocational Jobs

How is Apprenticeship Carried Out?

• Training is done while working for an employer who helps apprentice learn their trade or profession
• Apprentice provide continued labor in exchange for achieving measurable competencies
• Can last 3 - 6 years
• Competency Levels from
  • Apprentice
  • Journeyman
  • Master

Historical Context and Significance

• Later Middle Ages
• Supervision by Craft Guilds and Town Governments:
  • Master craftsman entitled to employ young people as inexpensive form of labour in exchange for food, lodging and formal training
  • Women Apprenticeships: seamstress, Cordwainer, tailor, baker, stationer
  • Usually 10-15 years of age, and live in master craftsman's household for term of 7 years.
• Technical colleges and vocational education
  • Formalisation and bureaucratization via Government regulation and licensing

What are the Different Apprenticeship Systems Worldwide?

• Australian (Apprenticeships and traineeships)
  • Cover all 60 industry sectors and used to achieve both 'entry-level' and career 'upskilling' objectives
  • Can be combined time at work, full-time, part-time or school-based.
  • Mainly Promotes retention, hence effort used to match apprenticeship or traineeship via aptitude tests, tips and information on how to retain an apprentice.
  • Australian Apprenticeships Centers: Administer and facilitate dissemination of funding to eligible businesses and apprenticeships
  • Group Training Scheme
  • Group Training Organisation (GTO): serves benefits with industry consultant with regular visits
• Austria (Dual Education System: company-based training with compulsory attendance of part-time vocational school for apprentices (Berufsschule)
  • 2-5 years with 250 legally recognized apprenticeship trades
  • Apprenticeship Leave Certificate provides apprentice with access to 2 different vocational careers
    • Pre-requisite for admission to aster Craftsman Exam and qualification tests
    • Higher Education Entrance Exam for studies at colleges, universities, "Fachhochschulen", post-secondary courses and colleges
  • Person Responsible for Overseeing training is "Lehrherr" or "Ausbilder" and must have qualifications and is an respectable person. "The person wanting to educate a young apprentice must prove that he has an ethical way of living and the civic qualities of a good citizen"
• Switzerland (Ternar: Dual Education system with mandatory practical courses)
  • 2-4 years
  • 300 nationwide defined vocational profiles with defined frameworks: Length of education, theoretical and practical learning goals and certification conditions
• Canada (At Province Level)
  • After provincial exams, they write to the Interprovincial Standard Exam to be satisfied by the whole country.
• France (Strong historical Background since 9th century)
  • 400 hours (1986)
  • Complex system with constant change.
• Germany (Dual Education System)
  • Integral part of many peoples working life as finding employment without apprenticeship is almost impossible.
  • 342 recognised trades (Ausbildungsberufe) from doctor's assistant, banker, dispensing optician etc.
  • In 2004, All companies except very small ones MUST take on apprentices.
  • 50-70% of time in companies and rest in formal education.
    • For Trade & Crafts People: Can work 3-4 days a week in a company and spend 1 or 2 days at a vocational school (Berufsschule)
    • For other professions which need more theoretical learning: working and school times are in blocks 12-18 weeks interval
• India
• Pakistan
• Turkey
• UK (Long history since 12th century)
  • 2009 National Apprenticeship Service Components:
    • Knowledge-based element certified through 'Technical Certificate"
    • Functional Skills: Minimum levels of math, english and IT
    • Employment Rights and Responsibilities (ERR): To show apprentice has full induction to company or training programme with creation of personal portfolio of activities, reading and instruction sessions
    • Path with Parity: University-only Education
  • 180 apprenticeship frameworks from manufacturing, high-technology industry to parts of service sector (e.g. Creative & Culture Skills, Sector Skills Council)
  • Freelance Apprenticeship Framework and Employment Contracts
  • Government Funding Agencies contract with 'learning providers' to deliver apprenticeships may be accredited as a National Skills Academy
  • TrainingProviders: Private Training Companies, Further Education Colleges, Voluntary Sector Organisations, Chambers of Commerce and Employers
  • Structure of Prrenticeships
    • Level 2: Intermediate
    • Level 3: Adanced
    • Level 4-5: Higher Apprenticeship
    • Level 4-6: Degree Apprenticeship
• United States (American Apprenticeship Educational Regime)
  • Free traditional apprenticeship job training replaced with OJT, pay as your work, vocational classes, college courses with tuition payment
  • School to Work Education Reform
    • Created by Education officials and NPOs who emulate apprenticeship system in other countries
    • Link academic education to careers via job shadowing
    • Occur in high school
  • Examples of US Apprenticeship Programmes
    • Electricians: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers/ National Electrical Contractors Association
    • United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America
    • United Association of plumbers, Fitters, Welders and HAVC Service Techs, Operating Engineers, Ironworkers, Sheet Metal Workers, Plasterers, Bricklayers
    • Independent Electrical Contractors
    • Associated Builders and Contractors
  • Examples of Professional US Apprenticeship
    • Professional Engineer: Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam, Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam

Analogues of Apprenticeship

• Internship
• Apprenticeships in Universities
  • Production of scholars: Bachelors --> Masters --> PhD
  • Graduate Students (Apprentices) --> Post-Doctoral Fellows (Journeymen) --> Professors (Masters) : See Adam Smith "Wealth of Nations"
• Professional Dvelopment for new graduates
  • Accountancy
  • Engineering
  • Law

Reference

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship

Concepts on the Educational Theory of Apprenticeships

What Is the Apprentice Perspective?

• An educational theory of apprenticeship
  • Process of learning through physical integration into practices associated with subject, such as workplace training
• A Method used by teachers to teach students about a specific task. Utilized in a problematic situations so students know how to react when faced with similar situation.
• Apprentice will be informally taught tacit duties of the position
• Their specific talents and contributions within the field are also taken into account and integrated into overal practice.
• Used to teach procedures to students
• Can also be used to develop master practitioners in fields e.g. driver education, flight training, sports training that involve
  • increased complexity
  • numerous webs of interaction
  • shifting environments demanding constant attention
• Formal Definitions
  • Pratt (1998): learner within an actual, physical context of practice.
  • (Barab & Hay, 2001): Apprentices work side by side with an expert in order to learn a specific task
  • (Barab & Hay, p. 72, 2001): Apprenticeships include: "
    • (1) the development of learning contexts that model proficiency,
    • (2) providing coaching and scaffolding as students become immersed in authentic activities,
    • (3) independent practice so that students gain an appreciation of the use of domain-related principles across multiple contexts"
  • Apprenticeship is a teaching method utilized by educators to teach students how to solve problems, understand tasks, perform specific tasks, and deal with difficult situations (Collins, Brown, and Newman 1989).
  • Furthermore, apprenticeship learning can be a useful supplement for adult educators with other types of instruction (Brandt, Farmer Jr., & Buckmaster, 1993).

More about the Educational Theories of Apprenticeship

• Apprenticeship perspective is rarely formally taught. (Unlike most other perspectives of education)
  • concepts communicated through apprenticeship are often practical, tacit strategies for achieving goals that do not always conform to standard procedure.
  • For example, in an office environment lunch breaks may be limited to thirty minutes, but through apprenticeship one learns that up to forty-five minutes is acceptable. It would be inconvenient for the company to formally allow that allotment, but through informal training the message may still be communicated.
• Educational theories of apprenticeship often involve the combination of
  • formal and information training for the development of schema,
  • mental structures that represent individual understanding of experiences that frame a person’s conceptualization of reality.
  • For example, a bicycle mechanic accustomed to road cycling may study texts covering mountain biking, but he will probably find it difficult to apply that formal training on a rough course. Educational theory’s response to this is apprenticeship; by riding with a friend on the mountain side, the cyclist can watch and learn, constantly reiterating his performance to meet the demands of the sport. In this way he is developing his schema through formal and informal training.
• A holistic field of learning because it involves the education of both the student and the teacher.
  • As the learner develops a schema that begins to incorporate the intricacies of the environment, they will be more capable of performing similarly to their peers.
  • Once this is recognized by the trainer, the student will become accepted as a peer; at this point, as the new worker tackles problems through their new and previously existing schema, their individual talents may start to be applied within the group practices.
  • In this way, apprenticeship retains fresh information and ideas within a common body of knowledge.

Goals of Apprenticeship

• According to Brandt et al (1993)
  • Adult learner to discover what works in situations
    • This does not mean for the learner to use problem solving learning and figure out the situation on their own. There is guidance provided.
    • The learner uses skills learned from the expert in order to successfully solve a problem.
  • The learner recognizes tasks, problems or situations and knows how to handle them.
    • The learner learns the appropriate practical and theoretical knowledge.
    • Learners are not learning this knowledge in isolation from other students. Students are working in a social setting with lifelike scenarios in order to learn a specific task.
  • the learner is able to perform at an acceptable level.
    • The learner is not learning basic skills at a novice level but working with an expert in order to perform at an acceptable level.
    • Students are not learning skills at a basic level but rather at a level that is accepted in the specific industry.
• According to Students
  • "learning experience expands their awareness of the factors that should be considered'
  • helps them organize and pay attention to their thought processes while handling difficult tasks, problems, and problematic situations;
  • and emphasizes the importance of particular aspects of such tasks, problems, and problematic situations previously ignored or regarded as unimportant"
• Learners have been able to
  • discover what works in situations,
  • knows how to handles problems
  • the learner can perform at a satisfactory level.

What are the Factors of Success in Apprenticeship?

According to Pratt (1998) To become a master of the field, the learning process must be active, social, and authentic. These points will lead to the learner’s greater understanding of the field and improved future contributions:

• Activity
  • concerns the level to which the learner is physically and mentally stimulated within the environment.
  • Successful trainers allow the student to be highly involved in the processes of decision making and action because they know that it is the doing that will have the most effect on the student’s schema.
  • For example: In training to drive an automobile, students will never be able to pass without a physical examination of driving ability. To prepare for this, learners are given the opportunity to drive in safe areas. This active use of the tool prepares the student for its later, tested use.
• sociality
  • Students must interact constantly with the tools for success, the teachers and the beneficiaries of the work.
  • This holistic approach will further integrate the student into the interrelated web of action and consequence within the field.
  • For example, a server training at a restaurant will not only follow a more experienced server, but interact with the customers, fellow employees, and management in the same time frame. The server will thus establish connections between all these groups and the personnel that embody them, preparing the server for day-to-day activities.
• authenticity
  • establishment of a mental connection between the work of the student in a particular field and the comprehension of the greater public.
  • For Example: An electrical engineer may understand the intricacies and challenges of computer panels, but this is only half of the required knowledge. They must also learn how most people perceive these panels and their interaction with them. From this understanding of the other end of spectrum, the engineer will better understand the achievement and thus authenticity of the community of electrical engineering.

What are the Phases of Apprenticeship?

• Phase I: Modeling – The complete act is observed and contemplated.
  • The smaller parts that make up the whole are not yet examined in depth. The observer first frames the larger experience and will be able to specify from there "Modeling occurs in two parts:
    • behavioral modeling allows learners to observe performance of an activity by experienced members to share "tricks of the trade" with news members" (Hansman, 2001, p. 47).
    • The learner is using articulation and domain-specific heuristics in this phase (Brandt et al., 1993).
• Phase II: Approximating – In private or in non-critical scenarios, the observer begins to mimic the actions of the teacher.
  • Through close guidance, the learner begins to articulate more clearly the teacher's actions.
  • allows the learner to try the activity and lets them think about what they plan to do and why they plan to do it.
  • Then after the activity the learner reflects about the activity. They examine what they did in comparison to what the expert did.
• Phase III: Fading – The learner, still within the safety net, starts operating in a more detailed manner, playing within the structure that has been taught.
  • The learner's capabilities are increased as the experts assistance decreases (Hansman, 2001).
• Phase IV: Self-directed Learning – The learner attempts the actions within real society, limiting him/herself to the scope of actions in the field that are well-understood
  • The learner is performing the actual task and only seeking assistance when needed from the expert (Hansman, 2001).
• Phase V: Generalizing – The learner generalizes what has been learned, trying to apply those skills to multiple scenarios and continuing to grow in ability in the field.
  • The learner uses discussion in this phase to relate that they have learned to other relevant situations (Hansman, 2001).

Reference

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_theory_of_apprenticeship

CONCEPTS ON INTERNSHIP

What is Internship?

Reference

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship

RESEARCH ON Internships

Singapore Edu Institutions with Internship Programmes

• MOE's National Youth Internship Programme
• NUS - http://nus.edu.sg/cfg/students/internships
• NTU's Attachment and Internship Programme - http://www.ntu.edu.sg/CAO/IndustryPartners/Attachmentinternship/pages/default.aspx
• Republic Polytechnic - http://www.rp.edu.sg/Internship.aspx
• Singapore Poly - https://industry.sp.edu.sg/internship/

OUTLINES on Internships

• On MOE's National Youth Internship Programme

GUIDES for Internships

Resources for Internships

• From Singapore Polytechnic - https://industry.sp.edu.sg/internship/
• From Brandeis University
  • Starting an Internship Programme - https://www.brandeis.edu/hiatt/employers/recruiting/postjob/starting.html
  • Learning Agreements
    • https://www.brandeis.edu/hiatt/search/internship/search_old/internship/transcript/agreementessays.html
    • Sample Learning Agreements - https://www.brandeis.edu/hiatt/search/internship/search_old/internship/transcript/examples.htmle
  • Letter of Offers
    • Simple Statements - https://www.brandeis.edu/hiatt/search/internship/letterofoffer.pdf
  • Internship Evaluation
    • https://www.brandeis.edu/hiatt/employers/recruiting/postjob/evaluations.html