Gatineau, Que. elementary students get hands-on experience in skilled trades
As demand for skilled trades workers soars across the country, students in Quebec are a getting a unique hands-on experience at a young age.
"The [teacher] taught us all what the machines do and how to measure the angles of the metal and all that," said Grade 5 student Dawson Reid, who is learning how to weld.
- Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
It's part of a unique partnership between the Western Quebec Career Centre and Gatineau's Eardley Elementary School.
"That's something that we're trying to move away from, where students who are underperforming academically, they go to a trade school," said director Damian Curley.
"The trades, they're skilled trades these days. Automotive technicians have to be able to diagnose. They have to be able to problem solve. They have to be good with those kind of skills."
Students in grades 5 and 6 are selected based on their academics and interests and they have two options welding or auto mechanics.
This year so far, the elementary students have four sessions lasting two hours each.
The program started 2018 with 10 students and has since grown to 80 students.
"We meet with the teachers in both the welding and auto mechanics program ahead of time to kind of see what characteristics their students possess: creativity, desire to build things, take things apart," said principal Julia Horner.
"We really want to make sure the children know that there are different avenues, all equally as great. So one might be going the university route, but it's not a fallback, it's an actual viable road for them."
With hundreds of thousands of skilled trades workers expected to retire in the next four years, the demand has never been higher.
"I had the same kind of tactile experience these kids are having it's important to make sure people know that there are trades out there that do things like build your houses and buildings and you can be a part of it," said first year student, Mark McMillen.
But it's not just the trades, there's also a shortage of health-care workers across the country.
"Health care is one of the programs we're looking at. Maybe we can bring in the elementary school kids to learn more about health care in general," said Curley.
Paving the path at a young age, learning new skills for the future.
"Our Ministry of Education, one of their major orientations for the province this year is to make vocational training more attractive and more accessible for everybody. So that's a mandate coming from the ministry that we're very excited to tackle as well," said Curley.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton hospitalized after prison attack
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a "major assault."
DEVELOPING Defence rests without Donald Trump taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial
Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defence Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.
Passenger killed, 30 injured as Singapore Airlines flight hits severe turbulence
One passenger was killed and 30 injured after a Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI flight from London hit severe turbulence en route on Tuesday, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, officials and the airline said.
Feels like mid-30s in parts of Canada, while other areas expecting snow
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Canada's inflation cools to 3-year low of 2.7%, in boost for rate cut bets
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.
'Documents are fraudulent': Graceland is not for sale, Elvis Presley's granddaughter says in lawsuit
Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, is fighting plans to publicly auction his Graceland estate in Memphis after a company tried to sell the property based on claims that a loan using the king of rock ’n’ roll's former home as collateral was not repaid.
Trump campaign calls 'The Apprentice' 'blatantly false,' director offers to screen it for him
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Nestle to sell $5 pizza, sandwiches in the U.S. for Wegovy, Ozempic users
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
Flight PS752 victims' families say they're not sorry to hear of Iran president death
Members of a Canadian group representing families of those killed when Iranian officials shot down Flight PS752 in January 2020 say they are not sorry to hear of the death of Iran's president.