This chapter will examine SMEs in the context of one local area's efforts to create a comprehensive school-to-work program. Thus, the chapter will begin by providing some background information on the organization I represent, the Partnership for Academic and Career Education, and then will discuss the set of school-to-work programs we have been developing since the mid-1980s. Every local and state school-to-work effort faces the challenge of recruiting SMEs to its programs, and the lessons we have learned in South Carolina may be instructive to other places in America, as well as to our European counterparts.
This region of South Carolina faced an educational challenge that was confronting much of the United States: too many students failing to complete high school or finishing without the necessary skills for meaningful employment, and insufficient numbers of technical college graduates to meet the demand of employers who were seeking more skilled workers and technicians. Clearly, the education provided to the large numbers of high school students not immediately bound for postsecondary study had to become more rigorous and relevant. To meet this challenge, the local educators (including the technical college president and school superintendents) and employers formed the PACE Consortium in 1987. PACE is now one of 16 consortia throughout the state, involving all 91 public school districts and the state's 16 technical colleges. The pressure to meet the demands of employers for skilled workers was considerable in 1987, and has been increasing ever since. The South Carolina economy has become more diversified, and a number of new companies have chosen to locate in the northwestern part of the state.
PACE's primary function is to act as an intermediary between public schools, business and industry, and higher education for the purpose of facilitating the development of Tech Prep and school-to-work programs. The PACE Consortium office is staffed by four professionals and three support persons, and is located on the campus of Tri-County Technical College.
Over the past seven years, the PACE Consortium's approach to Tech Prep has become very comprehensive, and area businesses have become increasingly involved in all aspects of the initiative. Local programs emphasize reform of curriculum and teaching beginning in grade nine, and diverse opportunities for work-based learning experiences. The programs also focus on improved transition in both curriculum and guidance at the elementary and middle school levels, and on improved transfer opportunities from technology programs at the community college level into related baccalaureate majors.
Tech Prep, or "Preparation for Technologies" in PACE parlance, prepares students academically and vocationally for mid-level technology careers--the types of careers that require a high school diploma with postsecondary vocational training up to a two-year associate degree.1 The focus is on increasing the level and rigor of the high school curriculum, and on helping students reach higher standards by using more active learning strategies. These teaching methods include more relevant and contextual learning activities, many of which are designed collaboratively with area employers. The approach to Tech Prep includes a purposeful blending of vocational and academic coursework, and more recently it has begun to emphasize the linking of classroom learning with learning that occurs in the workplace. Tech Prep programs begin in the ninth grade and progress sequentially through two years of postsecondary study, although students have the opportunity to stop at the end of their senior year in high school and enter meaningful employment. Some students choose to do this and continue their education with tuition assistance provided by their employers.
In the PACE Consortium, Tech Prep at the high school level also includes improved career guidance and planning, which is preceded at earlier levels of schooling by career awareness and exploration activities. Part of the guidance program at the high school level includes helping students plan for advanced standing opportunities during postsecondary study. These advanced standing opportunities, developed as part of the Tech Prep initiative, enable qualified high school seniors to receive credit for technical college courses, or to take courses on the college campus to help smooth the transition into postsecondary study. In addition, PACE is now working with a local university to expand these advanced standing options from high school through the two-year college and into selected baccalaureate degree majors.
Because the PACE approach to Tech Prep focuses on preparation for careers in industrial/engineering technology, health and human services, and business technologies, it also emphasizes reform in curriculum and teaching on the community college level as well. For the past seven years, faculty at Tri-County Technical College have been working to link their curricula more effectively with secondary programs. They have also been improving their instructional methods to emphasize active learning, teamwork, problem solving, and the use of technology. Tri-County Technical College has concentrated on expanding the technology content in associate degree programs through implementing a computer-integrated manufacturing teaching model, designing advanced certificate programs, and integrating core technical and academic competencies throughout all degree programs. These developments at the community college demonstrate that in northwestern South Carolina, Tech Prep involves not only improvements in curriculum and teaching at the secondary level, but purposeful and complementary changes at the postsecondary level as well.
In 1994, the PACE youth apprenticeship program produced its first graduate. The student began the program during his senior year and finished with an associate degree and three years of structured work-based learning. Currently, PACE sites are operating seven youth apprenticeship programs involving two school districts, seventeen businesses, and two technical colleges. Two additional school districts have collaboratively initiated a new program in electromechanical technology with a large manufacturing company and Tri-County Technical College.
For local schools, Tech Prep and youth apprenticeship programs have been a perfect complement for one another. Tech Prep's emphasis on strong vocational and academic skills (including technology skills, teamwork, and problem solving), combined with a focus on clear career goals and educational planning, provides a solid foundation for youth apprenticeship. The unique features of youth apprenticeship, particularly the emphasis on workplace learning, then provides students with opportunities to broaden their experiences in ways that could never be achieved by classroom learning alone. While youth apprenticeship is only one of many work-based learning options now available in the PACE Consortium, it represents the most sophisticated expansion of PACE's original concept. It also corresponds most closely with the federal School-to-Work Opportunities Act signed into law by President Clinton in May of 1994.
PACE works with employers representing about 80 businesses throughout the three counties served by the PACE Consortium. The nature of the relationship varies from firm to firm, but all the involvement relates directly to the planning, development, and implementation of Tech Prep and school-to-work programs. Obviously, many more businesses are involved with other aspects of public schools and the technical college, but for clarity, only their involvement with Tech Prep and school-to-work will be discussed here. And, critically, only one of the businesses that works with PACE in any capacity is unionized. In fact, in the three counties served by PACE, only one private sector business has a labor union.
The PACE staff and educators work with a broad spectrum of businesses, including large internationally owned manufacturing companies, like Michelin Tire and the Robert Bosch Corporation, as well as SMEs, including banks, local machining companies, and service agencies. To date, most of the PACE youth apprenticeship programs have been developed with large companies, but smaller firms have participated, and they are expected to do much more in the near future. (As a reference point, small businesses are those employing up to 50 employees, and medium-sized businesses are those employing between 50 and 250 persons.)
Curriculum Content
In the area of supplemental curriculum materials, PACE has developed eleven teaching modules with input from numerous employers. These modules focus on specific academic concepts such as algebra, trigonometry, and communication using applications from local companies. The employer provides the "real world" context, including forms or documents from the business, which high school teachers use to set up specific assignments or projects for students. The PACE staff takes the material and publishes it in booklet form to be used in the classroom. Also included in the module is information on the company and available career opportunities.
Student Projects
Within the past couple of years, the PACE office has tried to do more in the area of involving businesses in providing "real world" learning projects for students. One recent example involved a small bank in a local town. The bank was planning to implement a new check imaging process and wanted to introduce the concept to consumers. PACE brought together a group of high school vocational and academic teachers with the bank's vice president to develop a project that would benefit the students as well as the bank. The students spent several classes learning about the process and doing background research. They ultimately wrote and designed a brochure for the bank's customers.
Marketing School-to-Work Programs
Businesses throughout the PACE Consortium have also been involved in helping market Tech Prep and school-to-work programs to students, parents, and the community. Business leaders from companies of all sizes have helped both the PACE Consortium and local districts develop effective brochures and videos by providing testimonials in print and on tape. This type of public support has helped build credibility for the initiative with students and parents, and has also served to encourage other businesses to get involved.
Career Exploration
Even from the early days of the PACE Consortium, area businesses have participated in activities to help students become more aware of career opportunities, and to learn more about local companies. Dozens of businesspeople participate in the PACE Consortium's speakers guide project, assist with career day programs, and host groups of students for tours of their facilities. All seven districts have launched expanded shadowing programs, which have placed hundreds of students in area companies for a day of intensive career exploration.
Staff Development
Teacher training and staff development efforts require the second greatest amount of employer commitment and involvement. Each year, the PACE Consortium offers up to five teacher training courses, all of which feature considerable involvement from business partners. For example, in training designed to familiarize teachers with new applied academics courses and active learning techniques, roundtable discussions are held between teachers and technicians employed by area companies. These discussions provide teachers with an upfront examination of how academic concepts are used in various mid-level technology positions. The teachers then use what they have learned to design learning projects for students.
In the summer of 1992, the PACE Consortium offered its first teacher internship program collaboratively with six area companies, most of which were medium-sized facilities affiliated with larger regional or international corporations. This eight-week, paid internship required teachers to perform meaningful work for the companies and required employers to provide teachers with exposure to the major components of their businesses. Teachers in turn developed classroom materials and activities based on their summer experiences. PACE plans to offer more summer internship programs for up to twenty vocational and academic teachers from both the public schools and Tri-County Technical College.
Providing Work-Based Learning, Co-Ops, and Apprenticeships
While all types of employer participation have been important, the most influential and comprehensive type has involved linking classroom and workplace learning. In addition to youth apprenticeship, work-based learning options include coordinated co-ops, a registered apprenticeship program with the Robert Bosch Corporation, and a technical scholars program with Michelin Tire Corporation and the Milliken Company.
Coordinated co-ops begin with a traditional co-op assignment for high school seniors studying machining, which then continues through completion of an associate degree in machine tool technology. The student typically stays with the same company for the entire time, and receives tuition assistance for postsecondary study from the employer as well as incremental salary increases. The coordinated co-op option has been functioning for four years between one secondary career center, Tri-County Technical College, and a consortium of eight small machining companies. The primary difference between coordinated co-ops and youth apprenticeship is that the co-op option does not involve the sophisticated integration of classroom and workplace instruction that is found in youth apprenticeship.
The adult apprenticeship program with the Robert Bosch Corporation is the PACE Consortium's most employer-driven approach, and results in journeyworker certification through the U.S. Department of Labor and an associate degree in engineering technology. Students in this program are full-time Bosch employees, who combine twenty hours of work each week with approximately twenty hours of classroom and work-based learning. Representatives from Bosch and Tri-County Technical College have worked with area high schools to help explain the program to students and their parents. Typically, the company selects about twelve students each year to participate. Of the twelve, only a few are recent high school graduates. (Because this program was not conceived expressly as a youth program, many applicants were full-time Bosch employees. As a result, most of the individuals selected were members of the company's current work force.) The PACE Consortium is now working with representatives from Bosch and two area school districts to design a youth apprenticeship program based on the company's current model for adults.
Like Bosch's current apprenticeship program for adults, the Technical Scholars option requires students to be high school graduates. Technical Scholars functions like a traditional co-op experience for students who are in the second year of an associate degree program in engineering technology.
As these examples illustrate, PACE enjoys a fairly extensive base of employer involvement in its Tech Prep and school-to-work initiatives, and this base has continued to evolve over the past seven years. Developing this type of involvement has not always been easy, and it is something that requires constant attention to maintain.
This range of options is a particularly important outreach strategy for SMEs. Many of them are hesitant at first to commit large amounts of time and effort. Even if the initial involvement is superficial, once the communication structures are in place, and there is a successful track record, more sophisticated types of involvement often develop.
In its coordinated co-op option, the PACE Consortium has helped small companies form a consortium, or alliance, to develop work-based learning programs. As mentioned above, the coordinated co-op focus on machining is a direct result of Bosch's first apprenticeship program in machine tool technology. While Bosch could afford to sponsor a full class of twelve students, the smaller companies could not. By bringing employers from small companies together, PACE discovered these employers could jointly sponsor a full class. They could then exert more influence over how Tri-County Technical College scheduled courses and the nature of projects stressed within the curriculum. By bringing the high schools into the process and articulating the high school and technical college curricula to provide advanced standing opportunities, employers from small companies were able to hire associate degree-level technicians in less than the normal three-year time frame. In addition, those graduates ultimately gained a clear understanding of their sponsoring company's operational preferences, and developed feelings of loyalty to that company, neither of which would have been possible to the same degree in a traditional program.
Larger companies may also encourage broader employer participation in youth apprenticeship by sharing their facilities and other resources with smaller, noncompeting companies. One of PACE's large employer partners is currently considering this option to help expand sponsorship for one of the new youth apprenticeship initiatives.
Several obstacles block SME participation in the more sophisticated elements of Tech Prep and school-to-work (especially the youth apprenticeship options). In some respects, the suggestion to "just ask them" is logical, but the answer is more complex. One of the challenges is overcoming a mindset, which may differ for educators and employers, but which generates essentially the same outcome--a bias against SME involvement.
Educators also believe that larger companies have more familiarity with specialized training programs and, therefore, may be more receptive to modifying or designing options to include school-aged youth. In addition, educators tend to believe that larger companies enjoy a higher profile in the community than smaller companies, so to secure their involvement would lend prestige and credibility, which might in turn encourage other companies to participate.
Educators also worry that SMEs may be less able to absorb the various costs of participating--that they might find covering the student's wages more difficult, and that assigning a full-time employee to supervise and mentor the student might be prohibitive for them. All these factors contribute to a hesitancy on the part of educators to approach SMEs, especially in an area like northwestern South Carolina where there are a number of large companies.
In other cases, there are concerns about taking a productive employee and diverting that person's attention to the training and mentoring of an inexperienced youth. Conversely, in some situations, a few smaller companies participated in order to find good part-time employees rather than entering into a partnership for the mutual benefit of both business and education.
Employers from SMEs also seem particularly sensitive to the impact that production slowdowns and layoffs might have on their ability to participate in school-to-work options. As one textile company staff person recently said, "It's impossible to lay off full-time workers and keep your youth apprenticeship students, no matter how much you would like to be able to do it." If the business climate appears too uneven, or if employers have not been able to support youth apprentices over a reasonable period of time, eventually both the employers and the educators will lose interest.
Another problem for SMEs is the fear of the "free rider." After the firm trains and nurtures the student for several years, another firm hires the young worker away, with a better paying job with more benefits. The second firm gets a well-trained worker without the expense of doing the training, thus discouraging the SME from investing in training.
The presence of preconceived ideas on the part of both educators and employers can create a type of inertia when it comes to SMEs. While some of these preconceived ideas may be based on a lack of information and experience in youth programs, others are based on a clear grasp of reality. In any case, there are workable solutions, some of which can be accomplished locally, and others which will require intervention from government and other sources.
The concept of alliances, or consortia of small employers, has great potential. This approach has been used successfully in a few areas, and it may be possible to take related actions like organizing training assignments so students rotate through multiple businesses, or varying the length of training in order to meet the needs of employers.
PACE also works with other agencies such as the countywide business and education partnership organizations to improve the information and outreach systems for SMEs. This approach should make it easier for businesses to learn about school-to-work and to begin their involvement in whatever way they feel is best for their company. Along that line, it is becoming more and more important for the PACE initiative, and others like it, to collaborate with community agencies and organizations in order to maximize effort and resources. For example, chambers of commerce will play an increasingly important role as intermediaries in helping to make connections with SMEs.
Program coordinators must also improve the way they communicate and work with SMEs, and that is one of the priorities in the PACE Consortium. For example, in order to address some of the preconceived notions about school-to-work, the PACE Consortium is trying to help employers understand how participating can be a benefit, not a burden. Because many smaller companies cannot compete with the wages paid by the larger firms, especially in some of the technical fields, the opportunity to instill an element of loyalty in a younger worker over several years can have important benefits.
Students who have learned and benefited from developing a close relationship with their company may be less likely to fall victim to the "free rider" syndrome, at least for some period of time after graduation. In an area like northwestern South Carolina, where unemployment rates range between three and six percent, employers value such loyalty. However, in order to help ensure that type of outcome, school personnel and the employer must work very carefully to make a good "match" between the youth apprentice and the company. Also, as more students enter the upper levels of the youth apprenticeship program, PACE staff members hope these individuals can help with some of the mentoring and supervision of entry-level assignments given to the new apprentices, thereby reducing the attention required by the company's full-time workers.
For very small businesses, with only a proprietor and one or two employees, participation in school-to-work programs will depend on two factors. First, the overhead required to sponsor a student must be absolutely minimal, or the effort will overshadow the potential benefit. And second, the student must be able to perform some type of meaningful work with a limited amount of mentoring and direct supervision from the employer. Because small business owners often assume many duties, work long hours, and typically feel overextended, their ability to participate in any long-term types of training for youth will require extra attention and support.
Right now, PACE has few inducements to offer to potential business partners, regardless of whether those companies are small, medium, or large. The majority of the participating businesses got involved, at least in the beginning, for altruistic rather than business-related reasons. Some have come to appreciate and support a long-range vision for developing their future work force, but others are still only tenuously involved. In order to develop the type of commitment necessary to sustain this effort for the long term, and on a much broader scale, employers will need more than just a chance to be a good community partner or the potential for gaining a few well-trained workers.
The most popular potential incentive, at least among SMEs, is the idea of receiving training vouchers or credits in exchange for sponsoring a youth apprentice. Again, in very limited and informal discussions about this option, employers seem to like the idea that they could use these credits to obtain adult basic education through local school districts or the technical college, or to send current workers for specialized training, credit coursework, or continuing education at the college. If the state were to implement some type of credit system, it might also help encourage a stronger appreciation on the part of some employers for the importance of training and retraining.
Several employers have commented that they would be interested in having an intermediary agency handle the details associated with wages, insurance, and other types of overhead that take so much effort for them to deal with. While PACE has not encountered any employers unwilling to pay the wages, some smaller companies have expressed frustration in dealing with the process. This is an important point for SMEs who may have lean staffs. Any unnecessary frustration may be enough to convince them that their participation is not worth the effort.
Another factor which might help strengthen employer involvement, both initially and in the long-term, would be to have businesses generate and disseminate the information about school-to-work programs. In other words, if employers are approached only by educators, but receive no complementary messages from their own communication networks, they are more likely to view the initiative as something good for education rather than for business. On a local level, when employers in northwestern South Carolina talk to other employers about getting involved, it is often much more effective than when educators speak alone. On a state level, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce's Business Center for Excellence in Education has endorsed the concept in a task force report sent to businesses across the state. Still, there have been few other statewide efforts, and there is room for improvement.
Since 1987 when the PACE Consortium was formed, the seven school districts and Tri-County Technical College have learned a great deal about balancing collaboration with the need to maintain autonomy. With the advent of state and federal school-to-work legislation, however, the PACE Consortium has realized that its approach to collaboration between the educational institutions themselves, and between education and business must become even more sophisticated if the program is to survive and thrive. As state- and federal-level support structures are implemented, local partnerships must be ready to respond effectively and move forward. The school-to-work concept is certainly not "business as usual" for either educators or employers, and this presents many challenges for both groups.
Conflicts can occur when schools want businesses within their service area to accept only their students for school-to-work opportunities, while the businesses may prefer to sponsor the best-qualified students, regardless of where the students' home schools are located. Those same businesses may also not want to be perceived by other regional districts (which undoubtedly enroll the children of many of their employees) as being unwilling to provide them with reasonable access to resources and opportunities.
Second, demand for work-based learning opportunities may outstrip the supply. In northwestern South Carolina, there has been an explosive growth of interest by school districts in collaborating with area employers to offer job shadowing and youth apprenticeship opportunities. Soon, potentially thousands of students could be seeking work-based learning experiences. The relationship between supply and demand is not as simple, however, as matching the number of students to the number of potential slots within local businesses. The problem lies not in how many student placements businesses could support, but, rather, in how many they would support, assuming that the necessary infrastructure exists. For example, a complex interaction of many factors influences whether or not a company actually sponsors the maximum number of students that they could support (e.g., the perception of whether or not school-to-work is an investment or a community service, the level of commitment by key company officials, an estimation of the company's long-range financial situation, and the capacity to provide adequate student supervision without lowering productivity of current employees to an unacceptable level). In addition, if schools are not adequately staffed with personnel who can cultivate and monitor placements, businesses are unlikely to aggressively pursue the maximum number of work-based learning opportunities. The combination of these two problems--geographic mismatching and unbalanced supply and demand--illustrate the potential for confusion and disappointment.
In order to address these challenges, PACE has been working since March 1993 to develop a "cross-site collaboration policy." When completed, this policy will delineate communication and procedural guidelines to help all the education partners, secondary and postsecondary, work more effectively with each other and with area employers to implement a variety of work-based learning options. The policy will cover the need to use common definitions when addressing employer and community groups about school-to-work options and basic procedures for designing youth apprenticeship programs that involve multiple districts and companies. In addition, the policy will provide streamlined methods of coordinating contacts with prospective employer partners so that businesses are initially approached by one individual who represents the entire consortium. This cross-site collaboration policy, when completed, will move the PACE initiative from a district-defined approach to a true regional approach.
Addressing the challenge of having an adequate supply of work-based learning slots for the demand is something that PACE sites recognize will require a long-term, multifaceted approach. Among the strategies currently used is improving the school-based coordination and outreach in order to cultivate and maintain greater numbers of student placements, particularly in SMEs. Another strategy is encouraging more interaction between current and prospective business sponsors in order to build wider acceptance for the idea that school-to-work is an investment rather than simply a community service. And finally, PACE staff have been taking every opportunity to work with state officials and committees in order to help develop better state systems, incentive opportunities, and support structures which will translate into maximum opportunities for student placements at the local level.
1 An associate degree is a degree awarded by a two-year community college or technical college indicating that the graduate has completed a program of study with a broad base in general education and a concentration in a specific area. The degree may be in an occupational area (such as electronics) or in liberal arts (such as an associate degree in science or arts). Occupational associate degrees, often called associate of applied science degrees, are widely accepted by employers as credentials signifying career readiness, but may not provide maximum transfer opportunities to four-year colleges. Associate of arts and associate of science degrees are generally recognized as credentials for transfer to four-year colleges and universities, often fulfilling the first half of requirements for a four-year university degree.
