Manitoba has no intention of expanding shop courses, despite trades deficit

Manitoba Education Minister Nancy Allan says the provincial government has made a strong commitment to preparing students for a career in the trades, where jobs are abundant, but that she has no intention of making shops a core subject in any grade. In a province where shop classes of any kind are offered in barely one-third of junior high and middle schools, trades institutions are asking government what they are doing to better prepare youth for educational alternatives to university. "We're trying to improve the perception of technical/vocational for the public and for parents -- not all parents see technical/vocational as a first option. There's still the perception that the No. 1 choice is university and the second is the trades," says the director of the instruction, curriculum and assessment branch at the Ministry of Education. "We are working with industry to make sure the programs are relevant." Winnipeg Free Press