Trades certificates and diplomas of person

Status: This standard was approved as a departmental standard on April 7, 2016.

Definition

Trades certificates and diplomas refers to certificates or diplomas in the trades obtained by a person from accredited educational institutions or provincial, territorial or federal authorities. It includes certificates, diplomas or equivalents awarded to persons following successful completion of a course of study or training program in entry-level vocations, or in career and technical trades occupations. This includes persons who obtained qualifications from secondary level vocational training programs in the province of Quebec - such as the Diplôme d'études professionnelles/Diploma of Vocational Studies (DEP/DVS). It also includes persons who have successfully completed a formalized apprenticeship program, consisting of on-the-job training which may be accompanied by course work or 'in-class' technical training, and have received a Certificate or Diploma of Apprenticeship and/or a Certificate of Qualification or Journeyperson's designation in their trade. It also includes persons who have not completed an apprenticeship program but who amassed sufficient work experience in a trade and have successfully passed the certification exam to obtain a Certificate of Qualification from the provincial, territorial or federal authority.

Person refers to an individual and is the unit of analysis for most social statistics programs.

Usage

This variable complements the Educational attainment variable by providing estimates of all persons who obtained a qualification in the trades, regardless of any other educational credentials they may have obtained. Thus, this variable provides a more complete measure of the population with these qualifications in Canada.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

This standard does not conform with any of the ISCED levels provided in the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics. ISCED 2011 provides minimum theoretical durations of educational programs for the purposes of classifying a program at a given education level or for determining completion of a given education level. For the ISCED level that corresponds most closely with trades certificates and diplomas - ISCED 4 - ISCED identifies that the "duration typically varies from 6 months to 2 or 3 years" (ISCED 2011, p. 17, paragraph 70). This standard does not use the typical minimum duration of 6 months provided by ISCED to be accepted as a trades certificate or diploma. In addition, this standard includes persons who obtained qualifications from secondary-level vocational training programs in the province of Quebec (such as the Diplôme d'études professionnelles/Diploma of Vocational Studies [DEP/DVS]), whereas in ISCED they are classified under secondary.

Within the context of ISCED, a trades certificate or diploma is the official confirmation, usually in the form of a document certifying the successful completion of an education program or a stage of a program. Qualifications can be obtained through: i) successful completion of a full education program; ii) successful completion of a stage of an education program (intermediate qualifications); or iii) validation of acquired knowledge, skills and competencies, independent of participation in an education program.

ISCED classifies educational programs and includes a classification of the levels of educational attainment. This standard does not use ISCED levels but, rather, includes classifications that reflect the language used to describe education levels in Canada.

Measurements

  • Whole number March 16, 1998 to current

Classifications

Additional information

See:

Relation to previous version

  • Trades certificates and diplomas of person April 07, 2016 to current

    May 26, 2021 - The category names and definitions in the Classification of combinations of trades certificates and diplomas have been modified, and a new Classification of apprenticeship certificates has been added.

Date modified: