Posts Tagged ‘Lincoln Electric’

Advance CTE 2023 Fall Meeting Sponsor Blog: Diamond Sponsor, Lincoln Electric – Bridge the Gap Between Education and Industry for the Future Workforce

Thursday, October 12th, 2023

The need for skilled trade workers continues to be in critical demand and industries across the globe are scrambling to find ways to quickly and effectively fill these jobs. The welding industry is no stranger to these challenges. According to the American Welding Society, 360,000 welders are projected to be needed by 2027 with 90,000 needed annually (aws.org). 

How do we continue progress in this country without the skilled tradespeople to do the job? It is ever more imperative that industry leaders and business owners need to work collaboratively with education institutions to ensure the training learners receive is in step with what the industry needs.  While there are many paths to filling these jobs, from providing on-the-job training, upskilling current workers or adding automation to the production line, communication between Education facilities and industry must be ongoing to respond to constantly changing needs.

But where to start? How do we bring industry leaders and educators together to work collaboratively to develop a comprehensive training program and get the right skilled workers out into the workforce?  

Since 1917, Lincoln Electric has been instrumental in the development of welding education and training. Over the years our team has grown with the same mission to advance education, training and awareness of the need for skilled welders. With our strong industry partner relationships and a team of education curriculum and training professionals, we developed the Lincoln Electric Education Partner Schools (LEEPS) welding program with the emphasis to build the bridge between industry and educators as well as create meaningful curriculum that will support the continuously changing workforce needs.  

When state Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders include the LEEPS certification program on their industry-recognized credentials list (IRC) for secondary, post-secondary and/or workforce development lists, it allows the schools in that state to receive funding for every learner who earns an IRC certification. In Ohio, 20 organizations have LEEPS certifications on their IRC list. One school, Utica Shale Academy has certified 234 students in 2022 alone, which has helped offset expenses for the year.

In partnership with the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3), the LEEPS welding certification program provides curriculum and learning management resources for learners and welders to earn standard-based certifications.  These certifications are portable and stackable, which means welders can build their own skill base for specific job requirements by combining the skills and certifications they need for immediate employment. The LEEPS program creates standardization with the Train-the-Trainer program. All instructors receive the same training, tests, grading rubrics, and curriculum materials to earn certification in a welding class or process. Instructors then take that training back to their school and are now able to certify their learners. This in turn ensures that the training is consistent across the country and provides reliable, standardized certifications to employers they recognize when looking for prospective job applicants. The importance of standardized certifications also allows job applicants the flexibility to move across a specific industry or into a new one for employment across the country.  

The LEEPS program offers a way to integrate certifications into an existing education institute with ease. It combines traditional in-the-booth training along with virtual welding training meant to introduce and reinforce skills needed in the booth. As the industry changes, the needs of curriculum and certification change as well. The program adapts to the needs of the industry annually and works to provide the latest curriculum and certification to meet the needs of the industry.   

We are in a race against time to fill critical jobs in the skilled trades. As industry looks for innovative ways to fill jobs, education facilities have to expand their commitment to support them.  Integrating programs like LEEPS with CTE at the local and state levels, expanding course offerings in automation and integrating virtual and other technologies into their program will not only help accelerate the training to get workers in the field but also ensure the training they receive meets industry standards and needs.  

For more information about our education programs, please visit the Education Section of our website https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en/education.

Victoria Valore, Marketing Manager, Education, Solutions, and Applications, Lincoln Electric

By Layla Alagic in Advance CTE Fall Meeting
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Industry Certifications: Joining Industry and Education Together

Wednesday, October 20th, 2021

Submitted by Lincoln Electric, 2021 Fall Meeting Sponsor 

Even before the current pandemic, there was a welding skills gap. That could actually mean a couple of different things: It could mean there simply are not enough skilled welders to fill the welding careers available, or it could mean there is a disconnect between the skills employers are looking for and the skills applicants actually have. Either way, this gap’s existence is a real problem in the welding industry today—for both employers and job-seeking welders. 

If the problem is that trained welders do not have the specific skills employers are looking for, then the solution is to examine welding education and find a way to bridge the gap. Educational institutions communicate with the welding industry to understand which skills their students actually need for today’s jobs. Because the industry is constantly changing, the needed skills are constantly changing—which means that this communication between education and industry must be ongoing.

Lincoln Electric is heavily involved in both the industry and welding education, making sure communication is constantly maintained between the two to improve curriculum and training as the industry evolves. From this, the Lincoln Electric Education Partner Schools (LEEPS) welding program was created.

The LEEPS welding certification program is a partnership with the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3), which provides curriculum and learning management resources for students and welders to earn standards-based certifications. These certifications are portable and stackable, which means welders can build their own skill base for specific job requirements by combining the skills and certifications they need for immediate employability.

The LEEPS program creates standardization with the train-the-trainer program. All instructors who teach and certify welding students through a partner school have been through the same training, taken the same tests, and used the same curriculum materials. That means employers can feel confident that anyone who earns a LEEPS certification was taught the same content in the same way and has passed the same weld tests with the same grading rubric. This kind of consistency helps welders to have documented, proven competencies to show employers; employers know they can expect this consistency from an institution with a standardized process.

Because this program offers a way to integrate certifications into an existing educational institution, it doesn’t limit students or employers to one geographic area. With a traditional welding school, students all train at a single location and are likely to seek jobs in the same general area. With a program like LEEPS, the same quality welding education is available all over the country, so it’s more accessible to students and employers alike. This means employers can find job applicants in their area with the same qualifications as the job seekers in many states across the U.S. Employers can even set up their own internal training with LEEPS to put their welders on the fast track to certification in the specific areas that are needed in their workplace.

There is a skills gap in the welding industry, but our welding education programs can help fix it. With standardized, configurable training, today’s welders can complete valuable certifications in a way that’s both convenient and relevant to the available jobs. By bringing industry and education together collaboratively, curriculum can be tailored to meet the needs of both welders and employers in today’s job market.

By admin in Advance CTE Fall Meeting
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Beyond the Booth: Training Skilled Welders on the Fine Art of Teaching

Tuesday, June 30th, 2015

As welding matures into an industry with increased automation, sophisticated equipment and higher qualityJason_Scales_Portrait_resize and code standards, there is more specialization and a greater need for welders who understand more than how to hold a torch and join metal.

And, to this end, increasingly more high schools and community colleges are developing advanced welding education programs; so, the need for skilled welding instructors also is growing as part of this roadmap to producing a new generation of educated welders.

There’s no question those moving from industry into the classroom as a teacher understand how to weld. They just don’t necessarily have a teaching background or the know-how to engage students – the millennials – in a classroom.

Just as there is a science and art to welding, the same can be said of teaching. And the skills needed to run a successful, engaging classroom can easily be learned. At Lincoln Electric, we have developed a new, five-day training course designed to prepare new welding instructors at both the high school and community college level, as well as internal trainers with industry partners, for a career that moves beyond the welding booth into the classroom, on the teacher’s side of the desk.

Held at our global headquarters in Cleveland, the course, Beyond the Booth: The Lincoln Electric Teacher Institute, prepares instructors for life in the classroom. One of the biggest challenges in the transition from a shop floor to teaching is that of preparation. This course will help educators learn how to organize all of the content and curriculum and write lesson plans in a way that is engaging and addresses the different learning styles of all students in the room.

Simply put, a good teacher makes it look easy. But, in reality, it takes a tremendous amount of planning and effort behind the scenes to make that lecture work.

Beyond the Booth addresses crucial curriculum and lesson planning, as well as other key considerations during five days of intensive, interactive, fun learning designed with teachers in mind. We’ll talk about different teaching styles and how to effectively present based on each individual’s personal style. We’ll go on field trip to visit local Cleveland industry partners. We practice what we preach, so our curriculum prepares participants to comfortably enter a classroom and share their knowledge with a room of future welders.

To learn more about upcoming workshop opportunities, including one scheduled for late July 2015, visit www.lincolnelectric.com/education.

This post was written by Jason Scales from the Lincoln Electric Company.

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