With my Red Seal in Carpentry and my interest for developmental psychology, learning, and diversity, I believe that I am well qualified to take on the challenge of defining and cultivating the apprentice mindset.

I am interested in defining and encouraging a mindset that would be the most beneficial to the developing apprentice. This mindset would focus on how the apprentice can best frame and approach challenges they encounter and critiques they receive on their path to mastering their chosen trade. The concept that improvement is always attainable through individual and collaborative effort if very similar to the foundations of the growth mindset (Dweck), and the lifelong learner construct.

I plan to investigate the effects of framing information in a constructive and encouraging manner to a group of young apprentices, but most importantly to encourage those young apprentices to frame their  own experiences in the most constructive and encouraging manner. I believe that training a young person to approach the trades with the apprentice mindset will help them advance through their apprenticeships at a rapid rate, while exposing them to as many quality learning experiences as possible.

The apprentice mindset – key points (Brunt, 2016)

Seek New Experiences
Always on the lookout for an opportunity to learn a new skill, or to improve an older one.

Seek Advice and Critique
Seek advice and critique from those with more experience than you.  Observe more experienced workers as they go about any given task, and look for practices worth imitating / replicating.

Listen
Useful information relating to the apprentice’s development may come from any source. Put aside your preconceived notions of the others validity or ethos when they are sharing some information with you. Analyze that information reflectively. Only a fool never listens to a fool. You have two ears, two eyes, and one mouth.

Share Knowledge
The apprentice strives to make a gradual transition from becoming the learner to the sharer of knowledge. Feel lucky to learn, be eager to share.

The Lens of Improvement
The apprentice shall receive critique of any kind through the lens of improvement. Even if the individual providing the critique is delivering the information in a harsh or brutish tone, the apprentice mindset will seek to pick out useful information to further their development and mastery of the trade. The apprentice shall remain calm and reflective when receiving critiques.

Do a Little Better Next Time
Always be considering how to improve on the next task, be it in safety, fit and finish, time, material wastage, bodily energy consumed, relational interaction with fellow work mates, and so on.

Record Your Progress
Records progress in their chosen trade, be it in written or mental format. The apprentice should always be considering what they have learned from a task, and why. In contrast, what the apprentice did not learn from a task, and why. You wont learn how to frame in a doorway and hang a door while finishing concrete.

Consider How Well you are Being Trained
Considers how well the current employer or mentor is providing the apprentice their training. Are they becoming stuck in a role? If so, the apprentice should confidently voice their thoughtful opinions on their stunted progression as a tradesperson.

Work Safe –  Always
The apprentice understands that it is unacceptable to participate in work that they find to be unsafe. These concerns should be confidently voiced to their employer, and unsafe work should stop immediately.

Ask Good Questions
Considers how to ask questions of fellow workers, employers, or customers in a manner that will provide the most effective parlance of information.

Keep Your Mind on the Task at Hand – Always
The apprentice shall be mindful of all tasks they perform on the job. The opposite of being mindful is being mindless, and the mindless apprentice is simply a labourer with a very, very high risk of injury in their near future.

Produce High Quality Work
The apprentice understands that they are not expected to perform work at the journeyperson level, but they will strive to get as close as possible to that quality of work with every task they undertake.