Tom Kriger, Director of Research and Education at North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the educational curriculum administered by Apprenticeship Readiness Programs to prepare individuals for a Registered Apprenticeship Program and a future career in the trades.
Before coming to NABTU in 2012, Kriger was a Professor of Labor Studies, Provost and Vice President for Academics at the National Labor College. Before that, he served as Assistant to the President and Director of Legislation and Research for the American Federation of Teachers' largest higher-education local, the United University Professions — AFT Local 2190 — from 1998 to 2007. Kriger has also held faculty positions at the University of Northern Colorado, Providence College and St. Lawrence University.
One of the most significant barriers unions face when recruiting new members is the educational requirements, including math. As the math requirements in the trades increase, apprenticeship programs demand more from apprentices. Kriger explained how TradesFutures is working to improve that knowledge through Apprenticeship Readiness Programs (ARP) to better prepare individuals to enter a Registered Apprenticeship Program.
NABTU’s ARP curriculum is known as the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3) and was developed and approved by the Building Trades National Apprenticeship and Training Committee in 2008. Kriger said that MC3 fills the gap in the lessons taught in modern education systems. He talked about an ARP instructor in Minnesota who uses cardboard and tape to showcase these principles by having students create a staircase. Kriger said that in every class, the students are shocked by how the math they learned in middle and high school can be applied to real-life situations.
For more on the MC3 curriculum used to better prepare individuals for apprenticeship programs, listen to the show above.