Institute for Apprenticeship, Training and Education Programs

As the workforce evolves into the future, what will training the next generation of leaders look like? This session will address best practices in creating the next generation of leaders, including:

• How do we create leaders others want to follow?
• What makes leaders more effective and stable?
• Important leadership skills for the future
• Best practices in investing in leadership training to support your future leaders.

This session will provide updates on:

• DOL Office of Apprenticeship
• President’s Council on Apprenticeship
• EBSA initiatives

This session will provide updates on:

• Federal Apprenticeship Service
• Skilled Trades Ontario
• Skilled Trades British Columbia
• Alberta Skilled Trades Act.

Supporting apprentices in today’s environment requires intentional leadership and engagement. This session will consider opportunities and best practices to support your apprentices on the jobsite, in the classroom and out of the classroom. Topics include:

• Academic advising
• Mentoring
• Mental health and wellness
• Neurodivergent apprentices
• Professionalism and soft skills
• Benefits and financial education
• Navigating challenges.

This session will help you focus on best practices for addressing mental health and substance use in your program. Topics include:

• Identifying and responding to mental health issues
• Outreach and engagement
• Resources
• Substance use issues—Alcohol, marijuana, opioids.

New initiatives and growth in many apprenticeship programs are made possible through funding provided by grants. This session will help you identify where to find grant funding and provide an overview of how grants operate. Topics include:

• Legislated grant opportunities
• Other grant sources
• Applying for grant funding
• Reporting and oversight
• Challenges and best practices.

Successfully navigating sensitive topics and difficult conversations can help you avoid many problems and situations. This session will focus on preparing you to deal with difficult conversations, whether they are related to discipline, accountability, personal issues, mental health or any number of interactions you have on a daily basis in your professional life. Take away strategies that help you defuse the situation and focus on positive interactions.

Managing a trust fund comes with enormous responsibility. This introductory session is for those new to their role. Learn about fiduciary responsibility, why it is so important and what it means to you. Topics to be addressed include:

• Legal structure of training funds
• What is a fiduciary and why do we have them?
• Who is a fiduciary?
• What are the responsibilities of a fiduciary?
• Prohibited transactions
• The two-hat dilemma
• Best practices.

Managing a trust fund comes with enormous responsibility. This introductory session is for those new to their role. Learn about fiduciary responsibility, why it is so important and what it means to you. Topics to be addressed include:

• Who a fiduciary is and what fiduciary responsibilities and obligations are
• Legal framework and governance
• The two-hat rule and prohibited transactions
• Common fiduciary challenges for trustees of apprenticeship programs
• Best practices.

This session will dive deeper into the area of fiduciary responsibility and address:

• Unique apprenticeship issues
• Legal cases and lessons learned
• Succession planning
• Managing your professionals
• Appointing authority role and responsibilities
• Best practices for oversight.

You have plenty of data to protect, from trust fund information to student records. Be proactive in looking at your vulnerability to a cyberattack. This session will cover:

• DOL guidance
• Assessment and penetration testing
• Dealing with a breach
• Insurance coverage and claims
• Basic things to do to protect yourself
• Internal controls.

Designed for training directors and coordinators, this session will focus on the tools you have to manage the business side of your apprenticeship program, including:

• Accounting and budgeting
• Cost tracking
• Dashboards
• Leveraging plan professionals and other resources.

The need for skilled labor combined with the rising cost of higher education creates a great opportunity to recruit the next generation of skilled workers. But cutting through the stigma associated with work in the trades continues to be a challenge. This session will address:

• Value proposition
• Targeting outreach to educators, parents, students, employers
• Messaging
• Measuring happiness/purpose.

This session will look at the business side of your apprenticeship program for trustees, directors and others who have a role in oversight and management of your apprenticeship program. Topics include:

• Financial statements
• High-level oversight
• Internal controls
• Fraud and abuse.

Supporting women and LGBTQ apprentices in the classroom and on the jobsite requires an understanding of the issues and a commitment to inclusion. This session will cover:

• Understanding the unique needs of the LGBTQ community
• What you can and cannot do
• Special considerations for survivors of gender-based violence and harassment
• Creating welcoming environments for women.

For most learners, their instructors play a major role in success or failure. Every program should be committed to instructor quality so they have the best teachers training the next generation of skilled workers. This session will cover:

• Finding the next generation of instructors
• Best practices in technical training
• Honing your teaching skills
• Continuing professional education both in your industry and as a teacher
• Mentoring
• Intangible qualities of great instructors.

An open discussion of U.S. issues that are relevant to training trust funds, this session will provide a forum to address the most pressing issues that trustees, administrators, coordinators, instructors and directors grapple with in the current environment.

An open discussion of Canadian issues that are relevant to training trust funds, this session will provide a forum to address the most pressing issues that trustees, administrators, coordinators, instructors and directors grapple with in the current environment.

This session will provide an overview of the apprenticeship initiatives at NABTU, including:

• Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3)
• Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the construction trades
• Pathway programs.

Close out your conference experience immersed in a discussion around artificial intelligence (AI). This session will consider how AI is impacting the economy, consumers, the job market and your industry. With a focus on the opportunities and challenges AI presents, take away ideas to explore, policies to consider and consequences to look out for as this technology continues to expand.