APPRENTICE EDUCATION. 
The chief points of the Act may be summarized as under :— 
(a) The*Act applies to indentured apprentices only. 
(b) It applies only to such trades and districts as are proclaimed 
by the Minister. ; 
(c) At present it is being applied in the metropolitan districts 
of Adelaide to all apprentices in the ironworking, wood- 
working, and printing trades. 
(d) The classes are held during one afternoon per week (4 hours) 
in ordinary working hours, and one evening per week 
(2 hours). 
(e) The subjects taught in the first years are the practice and 
theory of the trade, trade drawing, and trade arithmetic | 
or English. 
(f) Each apprentice must satisfactorily complete a graded three- 
year course. 
(g) The instructors are selected from the most highly qualified 
tradesmen available. 
(h) The classes, equipment, staff, and subjects of instruction 
are advised upon by trade committees consisting of repre: 
sentatives of employers and employees “skilled in the 
trade concerned.” 
(i) The year is divided into three ternis of 14 weeks each; this - 
involves 252 hours of instruction per year. 
(j) Once in each term the employer receives a report from the 
school as to each lad’s progress; the school receives 2 
report from the employer as to the work done in the shop; 
the parent receives a report setting out the progress in 
both school and workshop. Thus the home, school, and 
shop are closely correlated. 
(k) At the completion of his course, the apprentice will receive 
a certificate stating the nature of the course completed, 
and space will be reserved on same for the certificate of the 
employer that the indentures of apprenticeship have also 
been satisfactorily completed. 
(1) No apprentice may be indentured under this Act without 
first serving a probationary period of at least three months, 
during which time he attends his classes. 
(m) The whole question of apprentice education and training, 
the extension of the apprenticeship principle to other 
trades, the modification of apprentice conditions so as to 
make them more closely fit modern conditions—all these 
matters are in the hands of a representative committee 
called the Apprentices Advisory Board. 
During the few months that the, Act has been in operation, certain 
facts have been noted that require remedy. Chief among these is a 
lack of guidance. The majority of boys have drifted into their trades- 
without having any regard to their special fitness or aptitude therefor, 
some of these lads regard their indentures as irksome, and it is partly 
for this reason that the bonds of apprenticeship’ are at present, in some 
cases, lightly regarded. { 
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