Acquiring a craft: grass roots action in the USA

The MSC's Consultative Document A NEW TRAINING INITIATIVE foreshadows the development of new education and training programmes for young people, particularly the 25 per cent minority who have no school‐leaving qualification. From the document it is possible to discern the main outlines of a policy for applying the large sums devoted to special programmes for the unemployed to more permanent schemes of training. These would centre on the Unified Vocational Preparation courses, a test bed for foundation training for young people in employment who are not apprentices and trainees, and extended WEEP projects of up to a year. Already the Chemical and Allied Products ITB, the Ceramic, Glass and Mineral Products ITB and the Rubber and Plastics ITB have taken the initiative in starting up multi‐occupation, multi‐industry WEEP provisions. Inevitably these schemes are directed at the 16–19 year old but it could be argued that these schemes are too late. There have been some moves like that of the EITB's proposal to extend vocational preparation back into the last years at school and this pattern is common in the schemes in France and Germany which A NEW TRAINING INITIATIVE gives as examples. But it could be that US experience is more helpful.