Sponsor an Apprentice
Apprentices participating in on-the-job learning must have a sponsor to support them through their apprenticeship program.
A sponsor's role is to support:
- Employment: Ensure the apprentice has appropriate paid employment.
- Mentorship: Ensure that a journeyperson mentor provides the apprentice with guidance, feedback, and opportunities to develop their skillsets.
- Progression: Encourage and enable the apprentice to progress through their apprenticeship programs
Are you ready to help apprentices be successful in their apprenticeship programs?
If your organization is a legal entity recognized in Alberta, you can sponsor an apprentice as long as you can fulfill the obligations that come with sponsorship.
Examples of sponsors include:
- an employer,
- a consortium of employers,
- a labour organization,
- a non-profit organization,
- or more!
Five Steps to Sponsoring an Apprentice
1. Learn about program requirements
Be prepared to support your apprentices!
- Program
- Visit tradesecrets.alberta.ca/trades to explore the apprenticeship programs offered in Alberta.
- Which apprenticeship program will the apprentices you sponsor need to register in?
- How many periods, hours of classroom instruction, hours of on-the-job instruction, are required for certification?
- Educate yourself so you can better support your apprentices.
- Wages
- Review the required apprentice wages in Schedule 1 (pages 20 and 21) of the Apprenticeship Education and Industry Training Programs Regulation.
- As a sponsor, you must ensure your apprentices are paid wages in accordance with Schedule 1.
- Ratios
- Review the required apprentice-to-mentor ratios in Schedule 2 (pages 22 and 23) of the Apprenticeship Education and Industry Training Programs Regulation.
- To employ an apprentice, an employer needs to also employ a journeyperson mentor to provide instruction, guidance, and supervision.
- As a sponsor, you must ensure the ratio of apprentices to mentors complies with Schedule 2.
2. Enter into an Agreement
Find someone who wants to learn a trade, and get started!
If your apprentice is not registered in the apprenticeship education program with AIT, ask them to register online through tradesecrets.alberta.ca/MyTradesecrets.
- You will receive an email with a link to confirm your sponsorship of the apprentice and enter into an Apprenticeship Education Agreement.
- You may choose to pay an apprentice's application fee online.
- You may be asked to approve any previous work experience the apprentice has for credit toward their program.
If your apprentice was already registered through a different sponsor, complete and sign a Notice of Acceptance form to register your sponsorship of the apprentice.
- Have your apprentice sign the notice and upload it to their MyTradesecrets account through the Applications tab.
- Ask to see their Apprentice ID Card or visit the visit the Check Credentials tool to confirm their period.
- Call the AIT Information Line at 1-800-248-4823 if they have questions about the status of their apprenticeship.
3. Provide Mentorship
Provide your apprentice with paid, on-the-job instruction under the mentorship of a certified journeyperson.
Approximately 80% of an apprenticeship program is on-the-job, so effective mentorship is key. Effective mentorship includes providing apprentices with:
- information, knowledge, guidance, and opportunities to develop their skillsets,
- opportunities to integrate what they learn in the classroom with their on-the-job experiences,
- continual support, monitoring, and feedback, and
- assessments of their competencies gained from on-the-job training activities.
4. Track Progress
Keep track of and evaluate your apprentice's on-the-job instruction.
- Verify all hours, months, and work in your apprentice’s competency portfolio (blue book).
- Ensure both you and the apprentice have completed the appropriate sections to document their hours of on-the-job training and competencies practiced.
- At the end of each year, have the apprentice upload their signed off Verification of On-the-job Training and Work Experience pages from their competency portfolio to their MyTradesecrets account.
5. Ensure Apprentice has Time Off to Attend Classes
Part of a sponsor's role is to help the apprentice progress through the apprenticeship program.
This includes attending their required classroom instruction and passing any associated exams.
- If your apprentice is eligible to attend training, they will be notified in the spring when class schedules become available for registration.
- Apprentices should consult with their employer to determine the most convenient class to register in and receive time off.
- Apprentices are eligible to receive Employment Insurance while they are off work to attend class.