Last week the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration held the second of three nationwide workshops dedicated to promoting the development and implementation of Registered Apprenticeships in our workforce. PAMA/SAE Institute participated with the State of Oklahoma in their efforts focused on the aerospace industry.

In a nutshell, a Registered Apprenticeship system is a company process of integrating new employees into technical skills through a paid structured OJT program. That program incorporates formal classroom training and utilizes interim credentials, or certifications, to measure progress and validate knowledge and skills. Apprenticeships are a structured method for entering into well paying technical jobs and represent legitimate alternatives to incurring large college debts before entering into the workforce.

PAMA/SAE Institute Professional Certification is part of the Oklahoma state team to prove the concept in the Oklahoma aerospace community. The value of the program is in its national scalability. While Oklahoma is the incubation point for the program, and has the support of the Okalhoma Aerospace community, aerospace maintenance providers/employers across the country are being included in the consensus building process.

The apprenticeship model has been proven for thousands of years and is frequently recognized here in the U.S in a union environment. However, the model simply requires a joint workforece/employer consensus building forum, one which the SAE Institute and SAE International is particularly well-suited. Our global reach and recognition also serves aerospace well as aviation maintenance knowledge and skills are most certainly global competencies.

If your company has an interest in learning more about apprenticeships in our profession, please view the links above or feel free to email us directly.

Stay Strong!