The Success of Apprenticeships

12Reflections on “Apprenticeships”

12.1. Introduction

I did not have the pleasure of taking advantage of “work-linked training” for my studies. Therefore I had to “learn” knowledge and skills through books and, despite the teachers’ overly standard and theoretical efforts, I was not able to discover any “poetry” in mathematics, which created a serious barrier for me as I pursued my studies. My consolation was to be decorated with academic prizes anyway. And for someone who had to repeat a school year, that’s not nothing!

I now know from experience that an “apprenticeship” would have helped me to understand that the effort to produce with the encouragement (one would say coaching) of the manager would have stimulated me, making it easier to see the interest of studying by projecting myself into my own professional future.

12.2. Apprenticeships: multiple realities

The French term for apprenticeship – apprentissage – is a beautiful word! Full of meaning. It covers many realities that are essential to the development of humanity, our construction and the acquisition of a critical sense. It constitutes learning about the world, others, life and yourself by learning knowledge and skills.

But this generic term also applies to education and the transmission of knowledge to schoolchildren and students. It is then a question of organizing periods in school and in companies. This is in order to apply and consolidate knowledge from books to the realities of practices in the field.