Seven Questions about Apprenticeships

Annex A. Apprentices and apprenticeship gwraduates in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC)

Current apprentices

Current apprentices are defined as currently studying in upper-secondary education or short post-secondary programmes (at ISCED level 3 longer than two years, or ISCED 4C) and defining themselves as apprentices or holding an apprentice contract. Variables C_Q07 and D_Q09 from the background questionnaire for the Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), were used to identify current apprentices. As these variables do not distinguish between internships and apprenticeships, apprenticeships have been limited to programmes leading to upper -secondary and short post-secondary programmes only, with the assumption that internships are more common in long post-secondary programmes than at lower levels of education and training (Kuczera, 2017[1]).

Apprenticeship graduates

In Austria, Canada and Germany, individuals were classified as apprenticeship graduates if they identified “apprenticeship” as their highest qualification (question B_Q01aAT in Austria, B_Q01aCA6 in Canada, and B_Q01aDE2_REC in Germany in the national background questionnaires for the Survey of Adults Skills). In Norway, an apprenticeship graduate is a person whose highest qualification is ISCED 3C (lasting for two years or more) (question B_Q01a in the background questionnaire for the Survey of Adult Skills). In Denmark, an apprenticeship graduate is a person whose highest qualification is at upper-secondary level (ISCED 3, of two years or more) and the qualification was obtained in one of the following areas of study: social science, business and law, science, mathematics and computing, teacher training and education science, engineering, manufacturing and construction (questions B_Q01a and B_Q01b in the background questionnaire for the Survey of Adult Skills) (Kuczera, 2017[1]).

Reference

[1] Kuczera, M. (2017), “Incentives for apprenticeship”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 152, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/55bb556d-en.