By Hans Peter Meyer
Special to The Record
Most of what鈥檚 happening in the Comox Valley鈥檚 鈥渋nnovation鈥� sector isn鈥檛 about tech. It鈥檚 about people creating new products and services, based on their smarts, and finding ways to reach markets far beyond our borders.
Integrated Carpentry Tutorials is a good example. Richard Dickenson is a 35-year carpenter and a former college instructor. He鈥檚 now a knowledge sector entrepreneur, growing a business that鈥檚 meeting needs across the country.
What makes Integrated Carpentry Tutorials innovative?
Teaching people a trade is not unique. Teaching them how to pass a university-level exam is. As is the focus on research skills. The ICT course teaches carpenters how to find things in Canada鈥檚 National Building code, and how to understand the complex questions posed in the ITA practice exams teaches them how to pass the exam. These are research skills they need to know to be successful trades people, successful navigators of today鈥檚 information economy.
鈥淢any of the carpenters I meet have been in the trades for 15-20+ years,鈥� Dickenson says. 鈥淭hey can handle the challenges of the job, but after years away from school, sometimes without a high school diploma, they often lack the confidence to challenge the Industrial Training Authority (ITA) Red Seal exams.
鈥淲ithout a Red Seal they鈥檙e not getting the pay and benefits they are due. Without a Red Seal, they鈥檙e also limited in their ability to help junior tradespeople. And Canada needs trained tradespeople.鈥�
Learning to network
Dickenson has watched how his classrooms have become hotbeds for job finding and support. It鈥檚 one of the unexpected benefits of the Red Seal Prep courses. Business people are practiced networkers. Tradespeople, not so much. Isolated on job sites or focused on specific tasks, this key information-sharing activity is rarely practiced.
鈥淐ross pollination,鈥� said Dickenson. 鈥淭he whole 鈥榮ix degrees of separation鈥� thing. What so many of us take for granted outside of trades, it鈥檚 helping carpenters move forward.鈥�
He has plans to use social media to extend what happens in the ICT classrooms.
Dickenson also sees knowledge transfer as important for the industry, and for specific communities. That鈥檚 why ICT is very interested in working with First Nations carpenters.
鈥淢any First Nations communities are isolated. Yet they鈥檙e full of smart young people who need access to apprenticeship opportunities and supports. I鈥檓 seeing our successful Red Seal guys taking skills back into the heart of their communities, supporting new trades people, and creating intergenerational change. That鈥檚 exciting!鈥�
ITC has a Red Seal prep course for Comox Valley area-working carpenters starting May 7. FMI see bit.ly/1SJTee2 or call Dickenson at 250-331-1117.
