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Innovative Trades Training

The Trowel - February/March 2007 • by Don Procter

In the world of apprenticeship training, the B.C. Wall & Ceiling Association (BCWCA) has developed a course that could prove a role model for others.

The course for wall and ceiling installers commenced in January with 50 students enrolled. It consists of four levels of in-school training, which totals 300 hours of instruction and 150 hours of self-study. Typically an apprentice signs up for two levels a year. To qualify for certification, students must complete 4,500 hours of work in the field.

What sets the course apart from some trade apprenticeships programs is that rather than impose a full-time block of classes on apprentices, classes are part-time so students can continue to work. Classes are held Thursday evenings and all day Fridays and Saturdays.

Another distinction is that the course is offered in three locations (the Lower Mainland, Victoria and Kelowna) so that apprentices can train close to home. “We’ve downloaded the training to local communities where we have enough critical mass to justify a course,” explains Murray Corey, executive director of the BCWCA.

Corey says the course is based on the successful pilot model developed by the BCWCA Training Standards Committee. The committee of ten members put in hundreds of volunteer hours over a two-year period to develop the pilot which provided training for 50 apprentices.

Students learn to assemble and install non-load bearing steel studs, interior and exterior gypsum products, suspension systems for metal lath and plaster, backer board and rainscreen systems for exterior stucco products. The course teaches theapprentices through hands on practical projects as seen here in these pictures. They learn by building walls and partitions, ceilings and exterior systems such as rain screen using materials and features found in contemporary buildings.

Corey says the course has been well received. There is currently 64 people enrolled for classes with a growing waiting list. “In the second round, we have filled up with 50 more students, many of whom are from the same contractors, which I believe is an endorsement of the program.”

The installer course will be offered again in spring and fall. “Our plans are to train about 50 new apprentices per year for the next several years and we can easily ramp up to meet if there is more demand,” he adds.

The course is an example of a successful partnership between industry and the provincial government. In addition to member contractors who volunteered many hours to help develop and continue to steer the program, key people in the development process include the BCWCA’s president Kirk Mitchelmore of Dryco Systems Inc. and the chairman of the training committee Bert Gerwin of Winwood Contracting, Corey says. Thanks also go to the association’s major sponsors, including board and steel manufacturers plus dealers and suppliers.

Since the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) closed its trade program in 2003, there has been no apprenticeship training in the province’s wall and ceiling industry. “Our members felt the development of this course was the number one priority for the industry at the time that BCIT left the training,” says Corey.

The bulk of tuition is provided through the Industry Training Authority (the province’s training authority); students pay about 25 percent of their tuition. The industry has donated materials, time and technical expertise.

There is a significant need for trades training like BCWCA’s course. “We happen to be on the cusp of an unprecedented building boom,” says Corey. “There is a great demand on our workforce and it is happening at a time when we’re seeing many workers nearing retirement age.”

An unprecedented boom indeed. The B.C. Construction Association (BCCA) estimates there is a record $107 billion worth of construction projects projected for the province through to 2014. And although the heart of the activity is in the Lower Mainland, the boom is widespread around the province, according to Manley McLahlan, president of the BCCA.