Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship is training under a legal agreement. Apprenticeships may include training in the arts, a craft, or a trade. The legal agreement establishes the length of time of the apprenticeship and spells out the relationship between the master and the apprentice.

Early apprentices were often enslaved individuals. Most began apprenticeships as young boys, usually no older than fourteen. Many famous Americans, including Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin, served apprenticeships. Many low-income families arranged apprenticeships for children they could not support. During the Middle Ages, craft guilds and trade unions controlled who would be trained, and they exerted great economic power.

Background

Apprenticeships began early in human history. The Code of Hammurabi, a collection of Babylonian laws dating to 1792–1750 BCE, includes a strict mandate that establishes the number of craftsmen needed, and the necessity of maintaining a training program, or apprenticeship, to ensure they would be capable of doing work that was needed.

Many of the earliest recorded apprenticeships involved enslaved individuals. Later in the Roman Empire, craftsmen organized societies and established standards.

In Europe, craftsmen established craft guilds by the thirteenth century. Master craftsmen controlled the guilds, which set standards of quality and methodology, as well as work conditions for local guilds. Aspiring craftsmen first worked as apprentices for about seven years; then, if were successful, they were accepted into guilds. When they completed their training, many were required to produce a test piece, or masterpiece, as proof of their skill.

An apprenticeship was much like a familial relationship. The master craftsmen had their own businesses, where the assistants worked. Apprentices might live on the premises.

Guilds could become quite powerful. They controlled the trades and could prevent outsiders from joining or competing with them in an area, or charge fees to allow them to work. Guilds could become exclusive, for example, by only permitting sons of wealthy families or sons of members to earn apprenticeships. Many families had to reimburse shop owners for teaching children trade secrets.

In England, the government became concerned about the power wielded by guilds and tried to regulate apprenticeships with the Statute of Artificers of 1563. During the Middle Ages, the apprenticeship method of training was often employed for professions such as law. Educators also worked as student teachers before becoming full-fledged teachers, and farmers often took on apprentices to teach them agricultural skills.

Many of those who settled in the American colonies during the seventeenth century were indentured apprentices from England. Apprenticeship training was less important in the New World, however, because so many migrants were skilled workers.

During the Industrial Revolution, skilled workers were highly valued. Machinists and engineers were highly trained. Unskilled workers who had potential were often moved into better jobs and even apprenticeships. Trade unions, like craft guilds, were established to ensure quality of the work and to steer people into jobs, thereby preventing non-union members from getting the work and learning many of the skills.

Mechanics' Institutes, which developed in England, operated as trade unions and craft guilds. The emphasis of these institutions was on specialized machine skills, and ambitious young men could gain the training they needed to advance.

Apprenticeships became less common in the early twentieth century with the development of assembly-line production. Skilled workers were less important, and workers often did not want to invest in years of training for the skilled occupations. The apprenticeships that were available changed significantly. Learnerships, which allowed novices to gain on-the-job training, became popular. In some industries, unskilled workers could move up to semiskilled work, and eventually skilled work, if they showed promise and were dedicated to learning.

In some countries, apprenticeships survived in certain fields, such as handicrafts. In Germany, students attended a vocational school during part of the day and worked in their chosen fields the rest of the workday. The French government established technical colleges to train skilled workers, who could earn apprenticeships.

Topic Today

Modern apprenticeships resemble traditional agreements in some ways. While apprentices are not linked in almost familial relationships with masters, they do have agreements that stipulate the type of training they will receive, the hours and wages they will earn in each stage of training, and what they will receive at the successful completion of training, such as certification. The US Department of Labor has set standards and policies for apprenticeship programs. These regulations cover registration and cancellation procedures, as well as oversight of apprenticeship programs. The Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Apprenticeship within the Employment and Training Administration has overseen apprenticeship programs since 1937. Between 2008 and 2021, the number of new apprentices increased by 82 percent. As part of the Biden-Harris Administration's workforce strategy, $730 million was invested in apprenticeship programs in the early and mid-2020s, including tax incentives that supported the development of apprenticeships in the clean energy industry. Between 2015 and 2024, American apprentices increased from 360,000 to over 667,000. In some states, state agencies issue certificates of completion of apprenticeships.

Modern apprenticeships generally involve people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. Registered apprentices learn skills such as bricklaying, drafting, electrical work, electronic repair, advanced manufacturing, and other construction trades from experts. In some industries, these experts are still referred to as masters, such as master plumbers. Other industries, such as cybersecurity and information technology, also offer apprenticeship programs. Candidates apply and are screened through entrance exams for dedication and aptitude before they begin work.

Because apprentices work closely with their instructors or mentors, and are usually producing items soon after they begin apprenticeships, their work is inspected as they progress and the custom of producing a masterpiece is rarely required. In Chicago, however, foundry casting patternmakers are required to work without supervision to produce a contract job, which is evaluated by a committee. Successful patternmakers are awarded certificates of completion. Some industries have established competitions among apprentices, who may win cash prizes for completing what are essentially masterpieces.

Apprenticeships serve the industry by providing trained individuals who are able to work without supervision. They are able to adapt to changing needs because they have learned their craft thoroughly. Masters are also capable of supervising other workers or becoming project managers.

In the first decades of the twenty-first century, apprenticeship programs underwent several changes. New apprenticeship programs were developed. For example, workers learned to create orthotic and prosthetic devices through a training program to meet rising demands for such devices. Increasing numbers of women entered fields traditionally dominated by men through apprenticeships. High schools and vocational and technical schools introduced young men and women to potential career paths. Some programs encouraged veterans to learn trades and crafts through apprenticeships.

Although the processes of apprenticeships have changed, the benefits they provide continue to aid people seeking a craft or trade. Shifts in industry and society have affected apprenticeship programs, which have changed accordingly.

Bibliography

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