The students at Walkerton District Community School walked into the school cafeteria last month to a scene that might open their eyes to a future they haven’t considered.
Instead of rows of tables and chairs, they were met with something more like an interactive science museum: hands-on stations introducing them to more than 10 skilled trades.
There was an excavator to dig up dirt and a virtual welding station. At the electrical station kids could strip wires and set up an outlet. Another station focused on measuring, where students learned to use a tape measure and practise their fractions by stacking coloured pieces of wood. At the next stop, they could do dexterity tests to figure out what trades they might be best at, moving coloured checker pieces to test how quick their movements are and using pliers to move small pegs to different holes across a board.
Grade 6 students at Walkerton District Community School get to try out different trades thanks to the Skills Opportunity Showcase Trailer.Supplied
They also assembled a miniature scaffold provided by the Laborers’ International Union of North America and learned how to change tires.
This was all brought to the K-12 school, about a three-hour drive north of Toronto, by the Skills Opportunity Showcase Trailer, an initiative of the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program. The trailer visits elementary schools in communities a few hours north of Toronto, setting up the hands-on learning stations, usually in gyms, in everything from electrical to plumbing to hairdressing. The goal is to give kids in grades 5 to 8 an idea of what the skilled trades are and what it is like to work in them.
This being for elementary students, the excavator simulator is a popular one.
The stations are both play and possibility, reaching kids at a much earlier age than they are usually exposed to the trades, says Justin Graham, an OYAP recruiter who leads the program in partnership with the Four County Labour Market Planning Board.
To boost productivity, more young Canadians must go into the skilled trades
“Our high schools do a good job of getting involved in the trades, but we found there’s a gap with elementary kids just having hands-on projects to do and just their awareness of the trades,” he said.
Canada is facing a massive shortage of skilled tradespeople. Approximately 700,000 skilled trade workers are expected to retire by 2028, according to Statistics Canada. To address that problem, educational initiatives across the country have begun promoting the trades in recent years. Most of these initiatives target students in high school. But the S.O.S. Trailer aims to reach younger students before the stigma that still surrounds the trades sets in, and at an age when many are discovering they are more engaged by experiential learning than sitting at a desk.
“It’s about planting the seeds so that they can think about the future in a different way, especially those kids who don’t know what they want to do because they are struggling with the regular academic route,” said Astrid Kastner, the principal at Sullivan Community School, which hosted the trailer last year.
Students gather around a display at Walkerton District Community School.Supplied
Hugh Morrison, the principal at Walkerton Community District School, where the trailer stopped last month, said the hands-on experience provides a practical application for classwork.
“It gives them some relevance to what they’re actually doing because math, for example, is so critical in skilled trades,” he said. “That measurement we’re doing in math class? If you want to be a welder, millwright or a boilermaker, it’s just so critical.”
Launched in 2019, the S.O.S. only visited every school with Grade 5 students at the Bluewater District School Board and Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board last year, Mr. Graham said.
Mr. Graham said the project is looking to switch from a trailer to a cargo van to travel to elementary schools and community events.
The trailer’s portability is one of its best selling points, Ms. Kastner said.
“I’m in the middle of nowhere. If you flew a drone over my school, there’s only farms,” she said. “It’s hard for us, for this community, to get to places where you can try those things. So having them come to us is a great opportunity.”
The S.O.S. Trailer brings its program to elementary students, aiming to reach them before the stigma that still surrounds the trades sets in.Supplied
Skills Ontario, an organization that promotes skilled trades and technologies, also launched a mobile unit to visit schools for all ages across the province in 2022. Since then it has introduced three more mobile units, said Ian Howcroft, the organization’s president and chief executive officer.
Initiatives introducing younger students to the opportunities in the trades help them make informed choices, said Shaun Thorson, chief executive officer of Skills Canada, an organization that promotes youth engagement in skilled trades and technology careers.
“If they decide to go in a direction that’s not skilled trades related that’s okay, because it’s an informed decision,” he said.
The benefits of the hands-on approach cannot be understated, added Walkerton’s Mr. Morrison.
“Getting to see kids not just hear about the trades but do something related to the trades was what made it really powerful.”