It appears that some front line teachers do not see the full relevance of where their students come from or go to, and the implication of this information for programming. This is in contrast to other teachers who not only see referral as their responsibility, but also recognize the value of knowing about and communicating with the referral agency:

We work in very close alliance with the Job Connect folks at this campus. We meet informally on a daily basis, and keep each other updated on common clients. Since they are located just down the hall from our classroom, students drop in there on a regular basis. Referrals are sometimes made by the teacher. At other times, the student self-refers.

One teacher saw the close relationship between Academic Upgrading and Job Connect as helping students reach their potential. Other front line deliverers simply had little experience with referrals from Job Connect.

Front line deliverers were asked to identify areas relating to the Job Connect Program that they wanted to know more about.

Job Connect Information Needs:

1. Training supports – 46%
2. Access to employers – 40%
3. Apprenticeship Scholarship/Signing Bonus – 39%
4. Supports for clients such as job trails, volunteer placements and job shadowing – 39%
5. Labour market information – 34%
6. Incentives to employers such as Training Tax Credits – 34%
7. Career counselling – 31%
8. Job search service – 30%
9. Resource centre – 30%
10. Resume service – 29%

Another need identified was, “Stats to do with length of employment, client satisfaction, etc.”

Although the baseline knowledge was much higher for Job Connect than it was for Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship, front line delivers clearly wanted and felt they needed more information about Job Connect. Since there is little variation among the needs identified, professional development offered to front line deliverers should include all topics with a stronger focus on the top three or four.