Quebec Vocational Training: A Practical Route to a High Paying Career
By Peter Byron. I am a product of Quebec’s vocational education system. I studied Industrial Drafting at Rosemount Technology Centre, part of the English Montreal School Board’s vocational network. At the time, I could not have predicted where that decision would lead. It became the foundation of a career that took paths I had never imagined when I first entered the program. That is one of vocational education’s greatest strengths. It can prepare someone for an immediate occupation while also providing technical, problem-solving and workplace skills that remain useful as industries and careers change. Peter Byron Quebec’s approach is distinctive within Canada. In many provinces, the most familiar skilled-trades route begins when a person finds an employer and registers as an apprentice. Classroom instruction is then completed in blocks between periods of paid workplace training. More on this another day. Quebec places more formal education at the beginning of the journey. Students...