In Britain, undergraduate students are getting paid on-the-job training and free college tuition by pursuing “apprenticeship degrees.” The model was created as a solution to student debt, youth unemployment and the changing technological landscape, and has proliferated across Europe over the last decade. Hechinger contributor Kelly Field reported that these positions have, in some cases, become more competitive than admission to elite universities
like Oxford or Cambridge.
Apprenticeship advocates in the U.S. want to see more institutions taking advantage of the model. In some places, apprenticeships in unexpected academic programs have helped fill gaps in the labor market and meet needs in communities.
For example, Alabama created a nursing apprenticeship license, so that nursing students can work under a licensed nurse or “journeyworker” and earn full pay and benefits, instead of doing traditional unpaid clinical rotations for their degree. Hechinger contributor Colleen Connolly found that this model makes college-level nursing school more accessible for students, while also being a potential solution to nursing shortages.
And Hechinger’s executive editor, Nirvi Shah, wrote about how one machinist apprentice’s need for child care led to the creation of a new type of early childhood center in Washington state. It will cater specifically to people in trade unions who work shifts outside normal hours and days. Staff will include paid early childhood education apprentices, in hopes that they will make this a career. Last month, Shah wrote about San Francisco’s child care apprenticeship program.
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