Technical training: in-school levels

On-the-job training teaches you how the work is done. In-school training teaches you why: the theory, codes, calculations and science behind the work, plus skills that are hard to practise safely on a live site. In Ontario, most apprentices complete their in-school training in levels, usually three, each taken as a full-time block of several weeks at a college or union training centre. This lesson explains how in-school training works, how to prepare for it, how to pay your bills while you are there and how to get the most out of it.

How the levels work

Each Ontario trade has a curriculum standard, published by Skilled Trades Ontario, that sets out what is taught at each level. In plumbing, for example, the basic level covers safety, tools, materials, basic code and drainage, the intermediate level goes deeper into code, water distribution and fixtures, and the advanced level covers more complex systems, design calculations and preparation for the certification exam. Each level ends with tests, and you must pass the level before moving to the next.

Most levels are delivered as a full-time block, often 8 to 10 weeks, during which you attend school five days a week instead of working. Some trades and colleges offer other formats: day release, where you attend one day a week over a longer period; evening and weekend classes; online or hybrid delivery for theory, with hands-on labs in person; and accelerated or modular options. Your sponsor and the ministry schedule your levels; the timing usually follows your progress in hours.

Why in-school training matters

Some apprentices treat school as time away from real work. That is a mistake. The code knowledge, calculations and theory you learn in school are exactly what the certification or licensing exam tests, and they are what separate a journeyperson who can solve unusual problems from one who can only repeat what they have seen. On Kingsway Tower, Luis is the person the crew asks when a fixture layout does not meet code or when a pipe size looks wrong on the drawings. He says he learned most of that in school and in the years he spent reading the code book after hours.

School also gives you hands-on practice that is hard to get on a busy site: making joints in materials your employer does not use, wiring circuits you would not be allowed to touch live, running tests and diagnosing faults on training rigs. And it puts you in a room with apprentices from other companies, who see different kinds of work. Those classmates often become the network that helps you find work later.

Preparing for school

• Review the math. Most in-school programs assume you can work with fractions, decimals, percentages, areas, volumes and basic algebra. TRD-102 covers it.
• Get your code book early and learn how it is organized. Tab the sections you use most.
• Ask your journeyperson what the level covers and practise those tasks on the job before you go.
• Sort out money before the block starts. Apply for Employment Insurance and any grants or loans in advance (lesson 10).
• Plan your travel and, if the school is far away, your accommodation. Some apprentices travel hours each way or stay near the college for the block.
• Tell your family and friends what the schedule will be. A block of full-time study after months of physical work is tiring in its own way.

Paying your bills during a block

During a full-time block you are usually not paid by your employer, so you need other income. Most apprentices apply for Employment Insurance, which can pay part of your usual earnings during approved in-school training if you have worked enough insurable hours. The federal government also announced in 2026 an Apprenticeship Training Grant of $400 a week on top of EI for apprentices attending mandatory in-class training in Red Seal trades, and the Canada Apprentice Loan offers interest-free loans of up to $20,000 for training costs and living expenses. Some collective agreements and employers add top-ups. Lesson 10 covers these in detail.

The program below compares income during a school period with expenses, to show whether there is a gap to plan for. The figures are invented; use your own.

# income and expenses during an 8-week school block (invented figures)
weeks = 8
usual_weekly_pay = 1100          # before tax, while working
ei_share = 0.55                  # EI pays a share of insurable earnings, up to a maximum
ei_weekly = min(usual_weekly_pay * ei_share, 695)   # weekly maximum used here is illustrative
grant_weekly = 400               # federal Apprenticeship Training Grant during in-class training
income = weeks * (ei_weekly + grant_weekly)
expenses = {"rent": 2 * 1250, "food": weeks * 120, "travel to college": weeks * 90,
            "books and supplies": 350, "phone and insurance": 2 * 180}
need = sum(expenses.values())
print(f"income over {weeks} weeks: ${income:,.0f} (EI ${ei_weekly:.0f}/wk + grant ${grant_weekly}/wk)")
print(f"expenses: ${need:,.0f}")
print("surplus" if income >= need else "gap", f"${abs(income - need):,.0f}")

income over 8 weeks: $8,040 (EI $605/wk + grant $400/wk)
expenses: $4,890
surplus $3,150

If the numbers show a gap, plan for it early: save during the months before the block, apply for the loan, ask whether your employer or union offers a top-up, and cut costs where you can. Money worries are one of the main reasons apprentices delay or skip school, and delaying school delays both raises and certification.

Getting the most out of school

Treat school like a job. Arrive on time, take notes, and ask questions. Study a little each day rather than all at once before tests. Form a study group with classmates from other companies; explaining something to someone else is one of the best ways to learn it. Pay special attention to code and calculations, because they are hardest to pick up on the job and most heavily tested in exams. Ask instructors about anything you have seen on site that did not make sense.

Connect what you learn back to the job. When Maya studied drainage sizing in her basic level, she copied the fixture unit table into her notebook and, back on Kingsway Tower, added up the fixture units on a few of the stacks she had worked on to see whether the pipe sizes on the drawings matched. They did, and Luis was impressed enough to start asking her to check sizes on new layouts.

If you struggle

Many apprentices find school harder than they expected, especially if they had a hard time in high school or have been out of school for years. That is common and fixable. Ask instructors for help early, not the week before a test. Colleges and training centres usually offer tutoring, math refreshers and support for learning disabilities, test anxiety and language needs. If you fail a test or a level, find out exactly what you missed, get help with those areas and try again; most systems allow retakes. Apprentices who ask for help early almost always get through.

Learning the code book

For many trades, the code book is the most important book in your training. Plumbers in Ontario work to the plumbing part of the Ontario Building Code; electricians to the Ontario Electrical Safety Code; gas technicians to the gas installation codes. These books are long, cross-referenced and written in precise language, and certification exams test your ability to find and apply the right rule quickly. Learning to navigate the book is a skill in itself.

Start by reading the table of contents and the definitions section, because many questions turn on the exact meaning of a word. Learn how the book is numbered and how exceptions and tables are laid out. Tab the sections you use most, with your instructor's guidance on what tabs are allowed in exams. Then use the book on the job: when your journeyperson tells you a rule, ask where it is in the code and look it up together. Over time you will remember where things are, which is what speeds you up in the exam.

Codes change. New editions come out every few years, and the edition that applies is the one adopted in your area at the time of the permit or the exam. Make sure you are studying the right edition, and when a new one comes out, find out what changed in the sections you use.

Hands-on labs

Most programs include shop or lab time where you practise skills under an instructor. Labs are a chance to make mistakes safely, to try materials and methods your employer does not use and to get feedback from someone whose job is to teach. Treat lab projects as real work: measure carefully, keep your area clean, follow the safety rules and ask the instructor to check your work before you move on. Employers notice apprentices who come back from school with sharper skills.

Labs also prepare you for practical exams, which some trades and licensing bodies include alongside written tests. A practical exam asks you to complete a task, such as installing and testing a section of piping, wiring a control circuit or diagnosing a fault, within a time limit and to a standard. The habits you build in labs, working neatly, checking your work and following procedure, are exactly what practical examiners look for.

Online and hybrid training

More programs now deliver theory online, with in-person sessions for labs and tests. Online learning is flexible, but it demands self-discipline. Set fixed times for online work as you would for a class, keep a quiet place to study, and do the practice questions rather than just reading. If you fall behind, contact the instructor early; it is much easier to catch up after one missed week than after five. Many programs also track online activity, so instructors can often see who is falling behind before you say anything.

Sam Torres took the theory part of his last year of electrical classes in a hybrid format. He blocked off two evenings a week at the kitchen table, did every practice question twice and kept a list of the code sections that tripped him up. When the in-person lab sessions came around, he arrived with questions ready, and the instructor used several of them to start the class. By the end of the year his list of tricky code sections had become his main study sheet for the licensing exam, and he said the habit of writing down what confused him was worth more than any single lesson.