The first experiments with work-study programs in Québec were
conducted in 1966 at Université de Sherbrooke, where a program was
developed for engineering students. This program was based on the "Cooperative
Education Model" first developed in England and subsequently
adopted in the United States. This model provided for the addition of
extended practical training periods in the workplace, scheduled between
two semesters of regular studies, in order to allow the students to
consolidate the learning they acquired in school.
In the 1970s various other elements of cooperative education were
emerging in secondary schools as well, with the establishment of
structures designed to strengthen and utilize the links between
classroom learning and the community. By the 1980s, more formalized
work-study approaches were operating in a number of secondary schools,
providing career orientation in the form of work-study programs for
general and special education students. When vocational education at the
secondary level was revised in 1986, new educational paths were
developed for students with learning difficulties (Insertion
socioprofessionnelle des jeunes). The life skills education and work
skills education programs promoted the work-study approach as an
educational strategy.
- The Cooperative Education
Program
In 1986, Cooperative Education, a federal program providing
funding to promote the use of the work-study approach as a means of
preparing students to enter the labour market, helped increase the
popularity of this approach in vocational education at the secondary
level and technical education at the college level.
At the college level, the first work-study programs appeared in
1990, when five colleges implemented programs following the "Cooperative
Education Model" used by universities.
Between 1986 and 1992, secondary schools received funding primarily
for life skills education and work skills education programs. After
1992, following the decision of the ministère de l'Éducation to give
priority to work-study programs in vocational education at the
secondary level, only programs leading to certification in vocational
education received the ministry approval required to qualify for
federal funding. In contrast to colleges and universities, which
adopted the common "Cooperative Education Model," secondary
schools developed a diversity of work-study programs.
- Investing in Competence
The ministère de l'Éducation indicated its interest in work-study
programs in its October 1993 orientation document for vocational
education entitled Investing in Competence, which presented
on-the-job training, especially through work-study programs and
practicums in the workplace, as an excellent means of improving the
quality of education.
- The Tax Credit for
Practical Training and Cooperative Education
The Ministère is also promoting on-the-job training through its
cooperation in broadening the tax credit for practical training and
cooperative education in order to encourage businesses to receive
student trainees.
- Experimental Program for
Offering a Greater Variety of Options to Young People in Vocational
Education
The commitment of the Ministère to promoting work-study programs
resulted in the creation of the Experimental Program for Offering a
Greater Variety of Options to Young People in Vocational Education
in the spring of 1995, in which the work-study approach and on-the-job
training were proposed as favoured educational strategies.
An Act to Foster the Development of Manpower Training
With the adoption of the Act to foster the development of
manpower training in June 1995, businesses are now obliged to
devote one percent of their payroll to the development of vocational
training. According to the law, costs incurred in receiving and
supervising student trainees qualify as eligible expenses.
These various measures have contributed to the coherent and
collaborative development of work-study programs throughout Québec.
