My observations while there and what I’ve concluded from studying it.
Mission:
Prepare general population for skills and experience necessary to take care of themselves and add to the community.
Structure:
The apprenticeship system is a giant collection of connected small businesses and learning institutions that prepare young women and men to be self reliant and reliable to others. It makes them valuable citizens, not costly.
Observations from Switzerland:
- Almost all small businesses participate in the Apprenticeship System for Mastery.
- Employees/Students are generally divided up into Novice, Apprentice, Expert, and Master levels that reflect responsibility and pay.
- Novices and apprentices have a much higher turn over rate than experts and masters. This requires a training program to quickly get new talent up to speed. Outsourcing some training out is more efficient/effective than doing inhouse.
- Novices and apprentices take their responsibilities ‘serious’ as the competition for apprenticeship positions is high. Every novice or apprentice level position usually comes from a recommendation.
- 70% of the Swiss youth go into Apprenticeships to gain mastery over their careers and lives.
- The Swiss have a very low Adult Dependency upon welfare.
- Pay gap between business owner and experts is far less than Fortune 500 CEO’s and Management.
- Upward mobility is steady and mostly up. Many take a step back and move up another pathway to mastery.
Conclusions:
- Communities that provide pathways for the next generation to master their careers and lives, end up with a vast majority of citizens who can take care of not only their lives, but their family’s lives and the community in general. They are more learned and make less rash decisions.
- The Apprenticeship described above provides a long tested and successful methodology for attaining self reliance and the experience to reliable to others.
- All communities should consider the Apprenticeship pathway to Mastery.