Training of Apprentices for Craftsmanship

The paper discusses the changes which have occurred during recent years in industrial organization and workshop practice in relation to the problem of the recruitment and training of apprentices for craftsmanship. In order to provide a satisfactory basis for the discussion of this important question, the author lays stress on the conditions which obtain in the large firm with which he is associated, without presupposing, however, that the methods which have been adopted therein are necessarily appropriate to firms manufacturing quite different engineering products. Details are given of the organization of the workshop training provided, and, after an expression of opinion as to the limited suitability of National Certificate courses for a large proportion of apprentices, of the part which the works' school plays in providing classroom instruction bearing more directly on the manual processes with which these apprentices are being called upon to deal. Finally attention is given to the question of the promotion to junior staff positions of these apprentices who have equipped themselves with requisite technical knowledge, and to the difficulty in the firm with which the author is associated of ensuring adequate retention in the shops of the highest-grade workers. A summary of the important considerations pertaining to the problem is given in conclusion.