When someone has years of experience in a trade and is unable to practice it in the province, it can be very frustrating. Generally people with years of experience cannot take a year or more off from working in order to sit in a classroom and be taught what they already know; this is where Recognition Acquired Competencies (RAC) comes in. The RAC process allows candidates to have their prior learning experience recognized and perhaps fill in some of the missing knowledge through in-class or self-study. Once all of their competencies have been evaluated and successfully recognized, they will receive their diploma and may never have stepped into a classroom.
We have been processing RAC candidates for a few years now and recently travelled to the Gaspe peninsula to help out a centre there. CVCEC in Ormstown is the centre of expertise for carpentry in the English sector in Quebec and with that title comes the responsibility of supporting other English carpentry schools in the province; it was in that capacity that we went to the ‘Centre Anchor’ in New Carlisle. They had received a tremendous response for an information session they were holding and were grateful when we were able to be there to support them. They received 15 potential candidates and we will now be working closely with ‘Centre Anchor’ to help in the success of each of the candidates.
Of course by being there we had the added bonus of being able to take in some of the beautiful scenery at the end of the day and to meet some wonderful friendly people.
For more info on Recognition Acquired Competencies visit: RAC information page.