Get 'em young: Industry hopes early education key to making careers in trades attractive to 'anybody'

An industry group is trying to make trades and construction jobs more appealing to students leaving high school, and they are starting early.

The Calgary Construction Association (CCA) launched a program in Calgary schools this week, aiming to reach 30,000 elementary students in 850 classrooms.

The group's boss says time is critical.

"Now probably more than ever, most high school kids, they may not have decided what they are going to do, they have often decided what they are not going to do," Bill Black told reporters Thursday.

"Construction has kind of gained this stigma of being a bit of a second-rate or third-rate career track. That you need a four-year academic degree if you want to be anybody. So it's very late in their thought cycle and their parents' thought cycles, to introduce the idea of trades or industry-related positions."

Black said the CCA has funded the new-to-Alberta program, Honour The Work, through member contributions.

That program, co-founded by Angela Coldwell, got its roots in Ontario schools.

Coldwell, a former high school teacher, said it's about thinking outside the box.

"We want kids to be able to see themselves in a variety of different career paths," she said.

"We know that they learn through play. We learn faster through play, but we also cultivate a whole variety of essential skills, like troubleshooting and problem solving, collaboration, negotiation."

The program content might surprise some people.

"We are teaching kids a lot of soft skills, but tied to curriculum," Coldwell said.

"They are also learning about structures, standard and non-standard measurements, and fractions."

Calgary students liked what they saw.

Evan is eight years old and enjoyed the group work.

"We are doing teamwork, even though we are just two people," Evan said.

"It's just fun."

Nine-year-old Arya got to work in a group on a miniature railroad project.

"Very difficult," she said.

"I just found an idea. I put Legos on the sides so it can move along and such."

Meanwhile, Black says Calgary is just the start.

"We'd like to see this happening in Edmonton, Red Deer, and Medicine Hat. We think this program is a relevant way for industry to do this."