November 30, 2011 – The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum / Forum canadien sur l’apprentissage (CAF-FCA) is inviting both national and international stakeholders to submit articles on apprenticeship to an issue of the Canadian Apprenticeship Journal.

“In a global economy, information-sharing is increasingly important as economies become more integrated and labour markets become international in nature,” says CAF-FCA. “In an effort to learn about different systems, approaches and programs, CAF-FCA will produce a special issue of the Journal. In this issue, it is anticipated that readers will gain insights into the realities of apprenticeship training in a number of geographic and economic contexts.”

Some themes of interest for this issue are:

• Strategies to address unemployment and skills shortages through apprenticeship training.
• Barriers to apprenticeship training.
• Effective international apprenticeship partnerships/programs
• An overview of specific apprenticeship systems
• The challenges in establishing an apprenticeship program.

CAF-FCA is particularly interested in articles from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Countries in the regions of Central America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia are included in this definition. LMIC authors and/or Canadian organizations working with LMIC partners are welcome to submit articles in addition to other international stakeholders.

The desired outcomes of this exercise include:

• Provide mutually beneficial learning opportunities to inform and influence apprenticeship strategies.
• Support evidence-based decision-making and apprenticeship policy development.
• Enhance apprenticeship training systems around the world, creating access to a highly-skilled global workforce in the skilled trades.

Please consider submitting an article to emily_arrowsmith@caf-fca.org by January 31, 2012.

This work is being carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa.

Established in 2000, CAF-FCA is a non-profit, multi-partite organization that plays a role in apprenticeship and labour market research in Canada. It brings together players in apprenticeship to influence pan-Canadian apprenticeship strategies and promote apprenticeship as an effective model for training and education.