Trades education program aims to change perceptions, build future workforce

'Honour the Work' aims to create trades excitement A new program running in some Calgary elementary schools has children building the foundations for future careers in the trades.

An Ontario-based non-profit organization is working with Alberta school boards to change the perception of trades careers and build a pipeline of future skilled workers in this province.

The "Honour the Work" program, founded by Angela Coldwell and her husband Tim, brings hands-on construction and trades education to elementary school students across the province.

"We really want to bring back the normalization that these careers are incredibly honourable and vital and essential," Coldwell said.

"These are skilled careers with people who are simultaneously thinking with heads and hands and creating something from raw materials that wasn't there previously."

The program, which has distributed 810 kits across Alberta, aims to address the looming shortage of skilled trades workers.

RBC predicts a shortage of 700,000 skilled trades workers by 2028 as older workers retire.

"We need a long-term plan for a long-term pipeline of talent," Coldwell said.

"We have so many individuals who are aging out, and we need to make sure that we are not just providing short-term solutions."

The program also seeks to break down gender stereotypes in the trades.

Bill Black, president and CEO of the Calgary Construction Association, said the industry has allowed itself to earn an "unfortunate stigma" that it is a "second- or third-rate career."

"If society has told them and everybody around them is pointing out that academia is the right path, then they naturally want what's best for their kids," Black said.

"And if they're not in the construction industry themselves, their kids may never, ever be exposed to anything related to the idea of building and working in a team and constructing."

The program is being piloted in schools across Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, with plans to expand further.

Lynn Leslie, supervisor of learning services with the Calgary Catholic School Division, said the program provides a unique opportunity to engage students at the elementary level.

"When we look at the younger ages, Grade 1 and up to Grade 6 in that elementary sphere, it's the opportunity to engage in real work projects and real pathways to learning right and to future careers," Leslie said.

Thursday, students at Don Bosco School, one of the first in Calgary to use the program, built brick and mortar buildings out of sugar cubes and icing, and Maglev trains out of magnets and LEGO.

Grade 2 student Dhia was enthusiastic as she fixed the roof to her newly built structure.

"When we grow up, we at least know how to build," she said.

"And then we can go to a construction site if we want to ... and then we could build anything."