The province says that students will be able to apply for high school diplomas
The government of Ontario said Wednesday that starting in grade 11, students will be able to switch to full-time apprenticeship programs while still getting their high school diploma.
At a news conference in Pickering, Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said that the move is part of a larger effort to deal with huge labor shortages as the province plans to build about 1.5 million new homes by 2031.
The province says that teens who join full-time apprenticeship programs that take between two and five years can apply for their high school diplomas as “mature students.”
McNaughton pointed out that Ontario’s construction industry alone will need 72,000 new workers by 2027 to fill positions left open by retirements and the need for more workers. By 2026, about one out of every five jobs that will be available in the province will be in a skilled trade.
The government says that starting in the fall, it will start consultations that could lead to lowering entry requirements for the 106 skilled trades in Ontario that currently require a Grade 12 education.
Last month, CBC Toronto said that a lack of experienced teachers is a big reason why more students don’t go into skilled trades.
McNaughton said at the time that the Ministry of Education was working to find ways to get more teachers with experience in the private sector into classrooms and that there would be “more words” in the coming months.
The government’s stated goal of building more than a million new homes by 2031 will be key to bringing down housing prices in Ontario, which has some of the most expensive markets in Canada.
But the province is already behind schedule because there aren’t enough people to work. The Residential Construction Council of Ontario says that 96,000 homes were started last year, which is well over 50,000 less than what the province needs to do each year to keep its promise.
Contractors told CBC Toronto that they are having to turn down work in every part of the construction industry, including restoration, industrial, institutional, and commercial work, as well as renovations.