Vancouver School Board doing its part to educate the future of trades workersJan. 24th, 2015By: Tarrah Harvey

Karen Larson, Career Education Coordinator for the Vancouver School District, believes the number of high school students getting involved in trades programs is far too low and says educating students earli-er about potential trades careers is the first step in changing that.

“In the next ten years one million jobs are going to open up in BC, and forty three percent of them are in trades and technology. During that time frame we’re going to graduate 530,000 kids from high school, so that would mean if we want those jobs to go to BC kids, four out of every five kids that graduate need to get into trades or technology, and that is not happen-ing, maybe one out of ten go into trades, and that’s way too low.”

The third annual Journey into the Trades event took place last week at Vancouver Technical Secondary, where students were introduced to a variety of trades opportunities as well as former Vancouver School District students who have had success in the indus-try.

Russ Evans, Coordinator and Instructor for the Tup-per Technical Program says this event is at an impor-

tant time for grade 10 students because it is when they begin to choose the courses they will be taking for their grade 11 and 12 years.

“There’s a bunch of people coming out of University who are going to BCIT to get the skills they need to get a job. Why not just start right away.” Evans stated, “University is not wrong, the trades just needs to be a viable first option.”

Journey into the Trades took place last week at Vancouver Technical Secondary. (VSB)