Once you have obtained an apprentice competency certificate, you can have your training and work experience recognized in order to be properly classified in your apprenticeship.
In Quebec, the apprenticeship system is divided into 2,000-hour periods. At the end of each period, the apprentice’s wage rate increases. This system guarantees that workers have accumulated a certain number of relevant work hours as apprentices in order to develop the skills needed to register for the provincial qualification examination which allows them to achieve journeyman status in a construction trade.
Here are the procedures for having training and experience recognized.
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Recognition of training
The different vocational training programs can be recognized as training credits to allow you to advance in your apprenticeship.
A training credits may be entered into an apprentice’s apprenticeship record book when he or she completes a training activity that is relevant to the apprenticeship in his or her trade. Obtaining this credit is conditional on completing the training activity.
Apprentices may ask the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ) to analyze the courses they have passed, either a diploma from a vocational studies program pertinent to the construction industry or partial training to obtain apprenticeship hour credits. Not all of the training offered by the ministry responsible for education will be analyzed by the CCQ; for a number of courses, apprentices will be referred to the recognition of acquired competencies (RAC) department in the school services centre of their choice.
Consult the table of credits per trade. -
Recognition of work experience
The hours worked by apprentices in the construction industry are recorded in their apprenticeship record book on the basis of the declarations made by employers in their monthly reports. These hours correspond to work performed on construction sites covered by Act R-20 in Québec. Therefore, any hours worked performing tasks not covered by Act R-20, in Québec or elsewhere, must be submitted to the CCQ for analysis before being recorded in your apprenticeship record book.
Eligible work experience hours
To be recognized by the CCQ, all hours worked performing tasks not covered by Act R-20 must meet the following criteria:
- Be tasks recognized for apprenticeship in your trade
- Must not have been declared by an employer in a monthly report
- Must have been remunerated.
Note that the number of hours recognized this way, combined with the recognized training hours, cannot exceed 70% of the duration of the apprenticeship.
Example of the work experience and training calculation.
If the application that you submit contains enough eligible hours for you to be admitted to the qualification examination allowing you to earn journeyman status, you will automatically receive a letter inviting you to register for the examination.
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Form to have training and work experience recognized
The form “Request for recognition of hours - Training or work experience” allows you to apply to have hours recognized, with respect to both training and work experience.
If you are a candidate who is an employer or owner of a sole proprietorship, use this form.If you have passed training courses recognized by the ministry responsible for education, the CCQ may recognize apprenticeship hour credits for them. To do this, it will access the courses you have passed using your permanent code assigned by the ministry. You must therefore provide the code on the form.
As for work experience, the form offers “work experience sheets” that allow your employers to certify the hours you worked performing the tasks in the trade while you were in their employment.
The form “Request for recognition of hours - Training or work experience” or “Request for recognition of hours - Training or work experience (Employer or self-employed worker)” and all copies of required supporting documents must be mailed to the address given on the respective forms.
Candidates can also go in person to a regional office of the CCQ with all their documents.
Canadian candidates from outside Québec
If you would like to receive recognition for hours worked outside Québec under a recognized Canadian program, the rules of the Apprentice Provincial – Territorial Mobility Agreement apply.
Through this agreement, the combined number of hours of work experience and training can be fully recognized.
You must provide a photocopy of a document certifying the progress you made in an apprenticeship outside Québec, if necessary. The document you must complete is called “Request for recognition of hours - Worker undergoing training in an apprenticeship system outside Quebec”.