TRADES PROGRAMS
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What Riverside College Offers:
Students who enroll at Riverside College in a trades program are:
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provided a combination of Entry Level Trades Training and Level One Technical Training specific to their trade of choice.
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registered with SkilledTradesBC and assigned an apprenticeship number.
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where applicable, receive dual credit for their coursework. That is, courses that are successfully completed count towards their B.C. Dogwood Secondary School graduation or towards their Adult Graduation. For school credits, courses must be passed with a minimum of 50% however for Technical Training credits, an average of 70 % must be maintained in all trade related coursework.
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given credit for a portion of their work-based training hours required for Level One completion.
Trades and Training Programs
The trades and training programs at Riverside College are designed to lead students directly into employment opportunities. We combine trades training with a secondary school graduation program.
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Undecided on a trade? Explore SkilledTradesBC's "Find Your Trade" profiles to help you find a trade that's right for you.
Apprenticeships in the Province of British Columbia
An apprenticeship is a combination of technical training and work-based training. Typically about 80-85% of an apprenticeship is the work-based training while the remaining 15-20% is referred to as the technical training that is completed in a classroom or teaching shop. The length of an apprenticeship can vary between one to five years but a majority of the trades require four years to complete. In the Province of British Columbia all trades are managed by SkilledTradesBC. SkilledTradesBC registers all journeypersons and apprentices and ensures that that the required skills and standards are adhered to.
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Apprenticeable Trades & Certification
There are over 150 apprenticeable trades in the province of British Columbia. Some of these trades are unique to the province while others, the "Red Seal" trades, are standardized across Canada. Once apprentices have completed all the required technical training, the affiliated testing and the required work-based hours, they are qualified (receive their “ticket”) to be designated as a journeyman in the province of B.C. If journeymen wish to practice the trade outside of B.C. they should complete their Red Seal endorsement.
Technical Training
Many post-secondary schools offer Entry Level Trades Training (ELTT) for students who have limited knowledge of the trade they are wanting to enter. ELTT programs serve as a way of introducing many of the aspects of a trade along with the Level One technical training. Enrolling in an ELTT Program usually provides students with a much higher level of success as they are well prepared to enter a specific trade.
Each trade apprenticeship is broken down into levels. At each level the apprentice is taught a specific set of skills. These skills are referred to as “lines”. Depending upon the trade there are a varying number of line skills for each level. For example, Carpentry Level One has 12 line skills. In order to complete the Level One Technical Training, students must maintain a 70% average on both the theory and practical assessments for each of the line skills in the level they are working on.
Work-Based Training
The number of hours of work-based training also varies from trade to trade. In many cases it works out to between 1300 and 1600 hours of employment to complete each successive level of an apprenticeship. Hiring an apprentice is a significant commitment on the part of an employer but apprentices should ensure that the employer has the expertise and facilities to support an apprentice as well as being registered with the Industry Training Authority.