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Programs
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Overview of Occupational Programs |
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An Open Door to Learning
Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) has an “Open Door”
admissions policy that encourages people from all walks of life to
further their education. Anyone pursuing a career in the building
trades, or in one of the other apprenticeship or occupational fields
offered by the College is welcome to apply to our Occupational
Programs.
Apprenticeship Programs
TOCC offers apprenticeship education in the following building
trades:
- Carpentry
- Construction Painting
- Electrical
- Facilities Maintenance
- Plumbing
Before covering the requirements for each of the apprenticeship
programs, this part of the website provides sections on “An
Introduction to Apprenticeship” and “Admissions to the
Apprenticeship Program.”
ABE and GED
For adults who have not graduated from high school, TOCC’s Adult
Basic Education (ABE) and General Equivalency Diploma (GED) classes
are the place to start. A section at the end of this chapter offers
information about these classes. See page 233.
Other Programs
TOCC offers other programs that prepare students for employment,
such as the Child Development Associate certificate and degree, and
the certificate and degree in Office and Administrative Professions.
These programs are covered in Chapter 5, Academic Requirements and
Programs.
Contact Information
TOCC’s Apprenticeship/Occupational Department is located at West
Campus. For more information, please contact Mr. George Miguel,
Department Chair, at tel. (520) 383-0013 or Ms. Kathleen Miguel at
kmiguel@tocc.cc.az.us.
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An
Introduction to Apprenticeship |
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Background
Apprenticeship is one of the oldest forms of formal education in the
world. The continuing cycle of the novice learning under the master
has evolved through thousands of years of human existence to the
present. Today’s apprentices still learn through listening and
observing, helping, and eventually working independently under the
master’s watchful eye. Today, however, the masters are also college
instructors, the apprentices are college students, and the knowledge
and skills are acquired through well- established curricula and
time-tested pedagogy. In due time, the apprentice becomes the
journeyperson who teaches an apprentice, and so the circle of
learning continues through the present and into the future.
Apprenticeship education is competency-based, which means that there
is no failure; the student repeats the task until competency is
achieved, then moves on to the next level.
On-the-job training is more physically active and hands-on than the
academic education structure.
As a general practice, you earn while you learn. Students develop
professional relationships with contractors and learn a work ethic
from their peers and journeypersons. Many company owners,
superintendents, general foremen, foremen, local union
representatives, state and federal government officials, college
faculty, engineers, and designers have all been involved with
apprenticeship programs and training in their formative years.
Apprenticeship is a time-proven pathway for learning a skilled
occupation. The federal government approves of the curriculum for
apprenticeships, based on generally accepted content for learning
the building trades throughout the United States and Canada.
Apprentices can practice their classroom learning by working for
contractors and being paid to reinforce their knowledge and skills,
thus furthering their education.
Apprenticeship at
TOCC
Apprenticeship is culturally consistent with the Tohono O’odham
Himdag (cultural way of life) because apprenticeship pedagogy
depends upon listening to elders. Young people learn through
observation, listening and watching what their elders do, and then
applying what they have learned under the supervision of the
experienced person. Learning by doing allows for the application of
knowledge and skills, and correction of mistakes, within a safe
environment. The apprentice gains knowledge and hones skills
concerning all aspects of the chosen trade, and learns to do things
the correct way.
Apprenticeship provides for a variety of teaching styles that give
students with different learning styles the opportunities to learn
in ways that are best for each individual. Apprenticeship students
are assessed, but differently from general education students;
assessment is primarily course-embedded assessment by instructors on
a daily basis, weekly by supervising journey people while at
on-the-job training (OJT), and biannually by the Tohono O’odham
Apprenticeship Advisory Committee. This assessment process has been
used successfully by apprenticeship faculty on the Tohono O’odham
Nation for decades.
TOCC is the only college in the state of Arizona, and to our
knowledge in the entire United States, which has its apprenticeship
program as a regular department of the college. Apprenticeship
students at TOCC, after successfully completing their apprenticeship
training, receive journey-person status that is equivalent to other
apprenticeship programs in the U.S. Tohono O’odham Community College
apprenticeship programs abide by the standards set by the U.S.
Department of Labor to educate students until they become graduates
with journeyperson status.
The Tohono O’odham Apprenticeship Advisory Committee is comprised of
representatives from the Nation’s private businesses, Tribal
Employment Rights Office (TERO), Tohono O'odham Community College,
Baboquivari High School, the Nation’s Scholarship Office, and the
Apprenticeship Program Department Chair. The Committee is charged
with tracking student advancement hours, upgrades and graduation of
apprentices, advising policy, handling disciplinary matters for the
programs, reviewing the turnout tests (final exam prior to
graduation), and upholding the standards of the apprenticeship
programs. The Committee reports to the Arizona State Apprenticeship
Program that a student has qualified for his journeyperson card and
submits the required documentation. Meetings are held monthly, or as
needed. Students are usually advanced to the next level every six
months.
Apprenticeship courses are open-entry, open-exit. Instructors spend
up to 30 hours a week with students, and failure does not occur
unless one quits the program. The program at TOCC provides
apprenticeship certification that leads to the journeyperson level.
Students must take reading, writing, math, STU100, and computer
literacy courses, and receive a grade of C or better to graduate,
for a total of 18 general education credits. While in the
apprenticeship program, students may take individual academic
courses that lead to a degree, if so desired. All students at TOCC
must take THO 101 Elementary Tohono O’odham I and HIS 122 Tohono
O’odham History and Culture in order to complete their studies for
certification or a degree.
The Tribal Employment Rights Office (TERO) works with students and
contractors who work on the Tohono O’odham Nation to pair up
students with journeypersons for on-the-job-training (OJT). When
contractors work on the Tohono O’odham reservation, they are
expected to hire TOCC apprentices to work with the journeymen and
journeywomen.
Assessment in Apprenticeship
Due to the open entry, open exit policy of the apprenticeship
program, students may come and go as they choose, or as life
dictates. Tuition and books are free, and students receive the tools
of their trade when they receive their journeyperson certificates.
Throughout the process, students are encouraged to build confidence,
along with building their knowledge base.
Some things that the students need to know are 1) how to read
a blueprint, 2) how to be self-supervised, 3) how to
use mathematical formulae and 4) how to ask questions for
clarification of instructions. These are areas that are assessed by
the instructor. Learning must occur before the student can go on to
the next step. One of the best assessment tools is measuring the
length of time the apprentice has been on the job, and counting the
number of paychecks he or she is earning each year. The students who
are learning and have learned stay employed, providing consistent
and dependable skills on the job site.
The Arizona Department of Commerce has no jurisdiction on the Tohono
O’odham Nation, but since it acts on behalf of the federal
government, Tohono O’odham Community College apprenticeship students
must receive certification through the state department. Advancement
is not automatic; the student must meet the requirements set by the
federal standards. The apprentice will be under the supervision of a
journeyperson at all times. In the final months of the
apprenticeship, he or she may work independently occasionally. Once
the student becomes a certified journeyperson in the chosen trade,
he or she receives a certificate that is signed by the Arizona
governor and the apprenticeship director from the U.S. Department of
Labor. This certificate is good throughout the United States.
Community Service in
the TOCC Apprenticeship Program
In 2006, the TOCC Apprenticeship Program was assessed by the state
of Arizona and received the Rural Outstanding Apprenticeship Program
of the Year Award. One of the graduating students in Facilities
Management received the Charles Huggins Community Service Award for
his contributions to the Tohono O’odham Nation community.
Another activity that makes the TOCC apprenticeship program unique
is the high level of community service in which the students engage.
Some of these activities include:
- Refurbishing homes of elders in many communities is a
continuing community service learning activity engaged in by the
apprenticeship students and their instructors.
- Florence Village Community Center, completed in 2003, was a
remodel of a feast house.
- The TOCC apprenticeship program in 2007 was instrumental in
building completely-contained restrooms, both handicapped and
standard, for families on the Tohono O'odham Nation.
- The refurbishment of the TOCC Main Campus was a project that
took about two years to complete by the apprenticeship program.
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