Automotive mechanics training, Bodywork training, Headline, Innovation industry training
WSA RISES STRONGLY FROM ITS ASHES
(Article published in L’Automobile Collision magazine, October 2023)
By Raynald Bouchard
After being dormant for several years, the Work-Study Alternation (WSA) bodywork program is back in full swing on October 30, under the supervision of the Centre de formation professionnelle in La Prairie, which covers southwestern Québec and the Montérégie region, as well as Sorel, Granby and Saint-Hyacinthe.
Featured in the August issue of L’Automobile, the WSA program quickly won over a large number of collision centres and major banners, thanks to the dedication of teachers who wanted to give the vocational training leading to the Diploma of Vocational Studies (DVS) in bodywork its rightful place.
Main features:
- The 15 to 20 volunteer students who make up each of the three cohorts will individually choose which of the 30 or so collision centres enrolled in the program will accept them as one-time trainees for four periods each lasting 130 hours.
- The four training courses cover all facets of bodywork, including assembly and disassembly operations, dent removal, mechanics, repair of electrical, safety and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), chassis straightening, structural panel replacement and finishing, painting and polishing.
- Great news! Students will be paid on a graduated scale: $17/hour for the first internship, $19 for the second, $21 for the third and $23 for the last.
- The body repair shop will no longer be able to offer a job after the initial internship, a situation that previously had the disadvantage of hastily ending the student’s diploma program. From now on, students must have completed all required internships and have their DVS in hand before being offered a position.
Winning Conditions
Of course, you need enthusiastic students and supportive collision centres and banners. But for Stéphane Lecomte, the teacher at the Centre de formation professionnelle in La Prairie who led the battle with his group of teachers, “success depends on the designated presence of a mentor in each body shop, who will take the student under their wing for the duration of the program. Respecting the learning sequence is also a winning condition. As for the teachers, they will have the task of making frequent visits to their students’ respective locations and monitoring their progress. Self-assessment and corrective action will conclude this two-year experimental program, and we hope that the initiative will spread throughout Québec.”
Graduating Female Dent Repair Technicians
It’s certainly worth noting that girls are increasingly present in non-traditional trades in vocational training schools, making up as much as 40% of student enrollment in the bodywork program. Are they, as some seem to believe, heading for painting? “On the contrary, exclaims Professor Lecomte. They tend to choose dent removal, one of the activities that offers a better overview of the bodywork trade.”
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