Guild House Technical Institute Seeks Membership in Global UNESCO-UNEVOC Network
24 June 2022 2022-06-24 16:38Guild House Technical Institute Seeks Membership in Global UNESCO-UNEVOC Network
MEDIA RELEASE
(Ottawa). Guild House Technical Institute applies to the UNESCO-UNEVOC Network to become the fourth Canadian Centre of the global 220+ member network. The Institute is seeking membership as both a training and research centre focusing on resolving the critical labour shortage facing employers and removing barriers for youth looking to participate in the workforce. A Network Secretariat based in Bonn, Germany, manages membership in the network.
After 20 months of robust consultation, research, and design, Guild House Technical Institute (Guild House Tech / GHT) has identified a sustainable framework that can immediately begin addressing unprecedented labour shortages while removing barriers for youth who need to work and learn simultaneously. The Institute has benefited from the research and training Centres in the Europe Cluster and sees joining the network as an opportunity to give back.
The framework, known at Guild House Tech as Wanderpässe, is a triad approach that combines the employer, employee (apprentice), and training provider (GHT) into one end-to-end digital solution. As a training centre of the network, the Institute seeks to elevate the importance of vocational training contextualized by the employer and supported with training aligned to a competency-based standard. The employer and the training team have a real-time 360o view of the employee/apprentice competency development to guide work tasks and training priorities that align with the employer’s business cycle. As employers, employees (apprentices), and the Institute rollout the first standards in pilots in the fall of 2022, the findings will inform the research centre’s intentions of the application.
There is an opportunity and urgency to act, but there is also an opportunity to study the impact of the model for replicability in other regions.
As a doctoral student in the University of Calgary’s Ed.D in Leadership in Post-Secondary Contexts program, President & Vice-Chancellor Jeremy McQuigge is actively utilizing the program to guide his research. “There is an opportunity and urgency to act, but there is also an opportunity to study the impact of the model for replicability in other regions,” said McQuigge in acknowledging the financial pressures facing the public and private sectors to address the challenges. Of primary research interest to McQuigge, as a member of the network, is to understand how a co-investment model where the government/public and private sector share the investment and design of vocational training could be a high-impact practice with significant participant benefits.
Guild House Technical Institute will be the fourth Canadian Centre and the fifth in the North America Cluster if approved. Over the next several months, the UNESCO-UNEVOC Secretariat will vet the application, including reviewing it with the Canadian Commission to UNESCO. While the institute awaits the outcome of its application, the team is actively engaging various levels of government, employer partners, and the philanthropic sector to help advance its mission to deliver personalized vocational training and experiences in the skilled trades while supporting sustainable career and community advancement.
