The Education & Training programs are one of the outstanding benefits offered through CECA. The primary focus on training is through the Construction Education Foundation of the Carolinas.  CECA works with the CEFC staff in the Carolinas to administer the training programs which are desperately needed by electrical contractors.  As an electrical contractors association, CECA places emphasis on electrical training. However, the training has been expanded to the crafts of plumbing, heating & air conditioning technician, pipe fitter, sheet metal worker, and fire sprinkler technician and others which are in the planning stages.

SC Board for Contractors
www.llr.state.sc.us/POL/Contractors/default.htm
NC Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors www.ncbeec.org

The CEFC apprenticeship program, one of the largest open shop programs in the country, has received multiple achievement awards and recognition. Download application form The program, registered with the Departments of Labor in both North & South Carolina, is career education combining four years of on-the-job training with related technical instruction. The apprentice works under the supervision and guidance of a skilled craftsperson and receives periodic pay increases as his/her skills and technical knowledge increase. Apprentices receive a Certificate of Completion from the Department of Labor at the end of the training period which documents their achievement.

The technical related training is available in three formats to meet the needs of the employer and the apprentice. The training can be structured as an in-house training program through the employer, through supervised self-study by the apprentice, or through traditional classroom training. CEFC offers evening apprenticeship classes in multiple locations in the Carolinas. The Core Curriculum, which is a basic introduction to construction course covering topics such as Introduction to Blueprint Reading, Basic Safety, Hand and Power Tools, as well as the first year of the electrical curriculum are also available on CD ROM.

CEFC’s apprenticeship program uses the nationally adopted and standardized Wheels of Learning curriculum which is offered through the National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCER). A curriculum has been developed for over twenty different craft areas and the Wheels of Learning has also been adopted by the Departments of Public Instruction in North and South Carolina.

CECA is a financial partner and sponsor in the National Center for Construction Education & Research. The NCCER is a private, non-profit educational foundation committed to developing and promoting a single standard for the construction and industrial maintenance industries. It is an effort of hundreds of contractors and the many associations that represent them that is uniting construction into one industry under one training standard.

CEFC's training program has met the rigid requirements of the NCCER and is one of less than 75 fully accredited training sponsors in the United States. Under accreditation, the highly acclaimed Wheels of Learning curriculum, which combines illustrated textbook material and hands-on training, is delivered by certified craft instructors.

Trainees who successfully complete this program can be entered into the National Training Registry maintained by the NCCER. Through the registry, records are kept of student's course work and the NCCER issues certificates and transcripts. The transcripts provide reliable accounts of the apprentices' skill levels and are accepted throughout the country. The training process itself is portable - meaning that the knowledge, skills and abilities learned can be transferred and continued.

While apprenticeship is the traditional method of training craft workers, only recently has apprenticeship been accepted by educational institutions. Much of this is due to School-to-Work and Tech Prep work-based learning and connecting activities that requires "on-the-job training." CEFC has registered high school apprenticeship programs through which eligible juniors and seniors may begin their craft training program and get a "jump start" on a career. Experience and education which a high school apprentice attains is transferred to the adult apprenticeship program after graduation. Child labor laws which were enacted to protect minors from injury in the workplace (Hazardous Occupation Orders) provide exceptions for Department of Labor registered high school apprentices.

Through CEFC's apprenticeship and accredited training program, we are a part of a national network of certified craft instructors, trained in the Wheels of Learning. This provides a:

• System of national recognition for apprentices
• Utilizing continually revised training manuals, based on industry competencies
• Provides Certificates, Identification Cards and Transcripts which acknowledge training completion