Obstetrical dilemma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obstetrical_dilemma 

The obstetrical dilemma is a hypothesis to explain why humans often require assistance from other humans during childbirth to avoid complications, whereas most non-human primates give birth unassisted with relatively little difficulty. This occurs due to the tight fit of the fetal head to the maternal birth canal, which is additionally convoluted, meaning the head and therefore body of the infant must rotate during childbirth in order to fit, unlike in other, non-upright walking mammals. Consequently, there is a usually high incidence of cephalopelvic disproportion and obstructed labor in humans.

The obstetrical dilemma claims that this difference is due to the biological trade-off imposed by two opposing evolutionary pressures in the development of the human pelvis: smaller birth canals in the mothers, and larger brains, and therefore skulls in the babies. Proponents believe bipedal locomotion (the ability to walk upright) decreased the size of the bony parts of the birth canal. They also believe that as hominids' and humans' skull and brain sizes increased over the millennia, that women needed wider hips to give birth, that these wider hips made women inherently less able to walk or run than men, and that babies had to be born earlier to fit through the birth canal, resulting in the so-called fourth trimester period for newborns (being born when the baby seems less developed than in other animals). Recent evidence has suggested bipedal locomotion is only a part of the strong evolutionary pressure constraining the expansion of the maternal birth canal. In addition to bipedal locomotion, the reduced strength of the pelvic floor due to a wider maternal pelvis also leads to fitness detriments in the mother pressuring the birth canal to remain relatively narrow.

This idea was widely accepted when first published in 1960, but has since been criticized by other scientists.

History

The term, obstetrical dilemma, was coined in 1960, by Sherwood Larned Washburn, a prominent early American physical anthropologist, in order to describe the evolutionary development of the human pelvis and its relation to childbirth and pregnancy in hominids and non-human primates. In the intervening decades, the term has been used broadly among anthropologists, biologists, and other scientists to describe aspects of this hypothesis and related topics.

Evolution of human birth

The diagram compares the size and shape of the pelvis as the infant's skull must move through it for the Chimpanzee, Australopithecus afarensis and Homo sapiens sapiens. This comparison is one of the pieces of evidence physical anthropologists use to support the Obstetrical Dilemma hypothesis

Human pelvis

The obstetrical dilemma hypothesizes that when hominids began to develop bipedal locomotion, the conflict between these two opposing evolutionary pressures became greatly exacerbated. Because humans are currently the only recognized extant obligately bipedal primates, meaning the body shape requires to only use two legs, major evolutionary developments had to occur in order to alter to the shape of the female pelvis. Human males evolved narrower hips optimized for locomotion, whereas female hips evolved to be a wider optimization because of childbirthing needs. Human pelvises have no distinguishing skeletal markers for sex before puberty, meanwhile, with maturation, hormones and obstetrical demands alter the shape of the pelvis in females. Overall, through evolution of the species, a number of structures in the body have changed size, proportion, or location in order to accommodate bipedal locomotion and allow a person to stand upright and face forward. To help support the upper body, a number of structural changes were made to the pelvis. The ilial pelvic bone shifted forward and broadened, while the ischial pelvic bone shrank, narrowing the pelvic canal. These changes were occurring at the same time as humans were developing larger craniums.

Male versus female

A male pelvis (left) compared to a female pelvis (right) from a posterolateral view. Differences in the sciatic notch and overall shape of the ilium can be observed.

Examination of the pelvis is the most useful method for identifying biological sex through the skeleton. Distinguishing features between the human male and female pelvis stem from the selective pressures of childbearing and birth. Females must be able to carry out the process of childbirth but also be able to move bipedally. The human female pelvis has evolved to be as wide as possible while still being able to allow bipedal locomotion. The compromise between these two necessary functions of the female pelvis can be especially seen through the comparative skeletal anatomy between males and females. (Diagram of human pelvis needed here) The human pelvis is made up of three sections: the hip bones (ilium, ischium and pubis), the sacrum, and the coccyx. How these three segments articulate and what their dimensions are is key for differentiation between males and females. Females acquired the characteristic of the overall pelvic bone being thinner and denser than the pelvic bones of males. The female pelvis has also evolved to be much wider and allow for greater room in order to safely deliver a child. After sexual maturation, it can be observed that the pubic arch in females is generally an obtuse angle (between 90 and 100 degrees) while males tend to have more of an acute angle (approximately 70 degrees). This difference in angles can be attributed to the fact that the overall pelvis for a female is preferred to be wider and more open than a male pelvis. Another key difference can be seen in the sciatic notch. The sciatic notch in females tend to be wider than the sciatic notches of males. The pelvic inlet is also a key difference. The pelvic inlet can be observed as oval-shaped in females and more of a heart-shape in males. The difference in inlet shape is related to the distance between the ischium bones of the pelvis. To allow for a wider and more oval-shaped inlet, female ischium bones are further apart from one another than the ischium bones of a male.

Differences in the sacrum between males and females can also be attributed to the needs of child birth. The female sacrum is wider than the male sacrum. The female sacrum can also be observed as being shorter than the sacrum of a male. The difference in width can be explained by the overall wider shape of the female pelvis. The female sacrum is also more curved posteriorly. This could be explained by the need for as much space as possible for a birthing canal. The articulating coccyx in females is also generally observed as being straighter and more flexible than the coccyx of a male for the same reason. Because of the female pelvic bones in general being further apart from one another than those of the male pelvis, the acetabula in a female are positioned more medially and further apart from one another. It is this orientation that allows for the stereotypical swinging motion of a female's hips while walking. The acetabula not only differ in distance, but depth as well. It has been found that female acetabula have a greater depth than those in males, but also paired with a smaller femoral head. This in turn creates a more stable hip joint(insert). One of the last key differences can be seen in the auricular surface of the pelvic bones. The auricular surface where the sacroiliac joint articulates seen in females generally has a rougher texture compared to the surfaces seen in males. This difference in the texture of the articulating surface may be due to the differences in shape of the sacrum between males and females. These key differences can be examined and used to determine biological sex between two different sets of pelvic bones; all due to the need for bipedal locomotion while having the need for childbearing and childbirth in females.

Adaptations to ensure live birth

Early human ancestors, hominids, originally gave birth in a similar way that non-human primates do because early obligate quadrupedal individuals would have retained similar skeletal structure to great apes. Most non-human primates today have neonatal heads that are close in size to the mother's birth canal, as evidenced by observing female primates who do not need assistance in birthing, often seeking seclusion away from others of their species. In modern humans, parturition (childbirth) differs greatly from the rest of the primates because of both pelvic shape of the mother and neonatal shape of the infant. Further adaptations evolved to cope with bipedalism and larger craniums were also important such as neonatal rotation of the infant, shorter gestation length, assistance with birth, and a malleable neonatal head.

Neonatal rotation

Neonatal rotation was a solution for humans evolving larger brain sizes. Comparative zoological analysis has shown that the size of the human brain is anomalous, as humans have brains that are significantly larger than other animals of similar proportions. Even among the great apes, humans are distinctive in this regard, having brains three to four times larger than those of chimpanzees, humans' nearest relatives. Although the close correspondence between the neonatal cranium and the maternal pelvis in monkeys is also characteristic of humans, the orientation of the pelvic diameters differs. On average, a human fetus is nearly twice as large in relation to its mother's weight as would be expected for another similarly sized primate. The extremely close correspondence between the fetal head and the maternal pelvic dimensions requires that these dimensions line up at all points (inlet, midplane, and outlet) during the birth process. During delivery, neonatal rotation occurs when the body gets rotated to align head and shoulders transversely when entering the small pelvis, otherwise known as internal rotation. The fetus then rotates longitudinally to exit the birth canal, which is known as external rotation. In humans, the long axes of the inlet and the outlet of the obstetric canal lie perpendicular to each other. This is an important mechanism because growth in the size of the cranium as well as the width of the shoulders makes it more difficult for the infant to fit through the pelvis. This enables the largest dimensions of the fetal head to align with the largest dimensions of each plane of the maternal pelvis as labor progresses. This differs in non-human primates as there is no need for neonatal rotation in non-human primates because the birth canal is wide enough to accommodate the infant. This elaborate mechanism of labor, which requires a constant readjustment of the fetal head in relation to the bony pelvis (and which may vary somewhat depending on the shape of the pelvis in question), is completely different from the obstetrical mechanics of the other higher primates whose infants generally drop through the pelvis without any rotation or realignment. In contrast to the narrow shoulders of monkeys and higher primates, which are able to pass through the birth canal without any rotation, modern humans have broad, rigid shoulders, which generally require the same series of rotations that the head undergoes in order to travel through.

Due to the evolution of bipedalism in humans, the pelvis had evolved to have a shorter, more forward curved ilium and broader sacrum in order to support ambulating on two legs. This caused the birth canal to shrink and form a more oval shape, thus the infant must undergo specific movements to rotate itself in a certain position to be able to pass through the pelvis. These movements are referred as the seven cardinal movements, which the infant rotates itself at the widest diameter of the pelvis to allow for the narrowest aspect of the fetal body to align with the narrowest diameter of the pelvic. These movements include engagement, descent, flexion, internal rotation, extension, external rotation, and expulsion.

1. Engagement is the first movement of labor where the first part of the head enters the pelvic inlet.
2. Descent refers to the deeper movement of the head through the pelvic inlet with the widest diameter of the infant's head.
3. Flexion occurs during descent, where tissues of the pelvis create resistance as the head moves down the pelvic cavity and brings the infant's chin to the chest. This allows for the smallest part of the head to begin to push through pelvis and actively promote delivery of the baby.
4. Internal rotation occurs when the head continues to descend and comes in contact with the pelvic floor, which has resistant muscles. These muscles allow for the infant to rotate their head to allow their head and shoulders to move through the pelvic. Due to the broad shape of the sacrum, the head of the fetus must be rotated from occiput transverse to occiput anterior position, which means the infant must rotate from the sideways position so the anterior head faces the buttock of the mother.
5. Extension is the point where the head moves past the pubic symphysis, where it has to curve underneath the birth canal while the anterior head still faces the mother's bottom.
6. External rotation (or Restitution) occurs when the baby pauses after the head passes through the body. During this pause, the infant rotates itself sideways (facing the mother's thigh) to allow for the shoulder to fit though the birth canal.
7. Expulsion is the final step of labor. During this stage, the anterior shoulder moves past the birth canal first then the posterior shoulder. Once both shoulders are out, the baby is delivered through the birth canal completely.

While the seven cardinal movements is considered the normal mechanism for labor and delivery of human babies, pelvic sizes and shapes can vary among female humans which can increase the risk of errors in rotations and delivery, especially since these movements are done completely by the baby. One of the biggest issues with the pelvic shape for childbirth is the Ischial spine. Since the ischial spines support the pelvic floor, if the spines are too far apart it can lead to a weakened pelvic floor muscles. This can cause issues as pregnancy progresses, such as difficulty carrying the fetus to full term. Another complication that can occur during human childbirth is shoulder dystocia, where the shoulder is stuck in the birth canal. This can lead to fractured humerus and clavicle of the fetus and hemorrhaging of the mother postpartum. Thus, these neonatal rotations are important in allowing the baby to safely pass through the pelvic and ensure the health of the mother as well.

Gestation length and altriciality

Gestation length in humans is believed to be shorter than most other primates of comparable size. The gestation length for humans is 266 days, or eight days short of nine months, which is counted from the first day of the woman's last menstrual period. During gestation, mothers must support the metabolic cost of tissue growth, both of the fetus and the mother, as well as the ever-increasing metabolic rate of the growing fetus. Comparative data from across mammals and primates suggest that there is a metabolic constraint on how large and energetically expensive a fetus can grow before it must leave the mother's body. It is thought that this shorter gestation period is an adaptation to ensure the survival of mother and child because it leads to altriciality. Neonatal brain and body size have increased in the hominin lineage, and human maternal investment is greater than expected for a primate of similar body mass. The obstetrical dilemma hypothesis suggests that in order to successfully undergo childbirth, the infant must be born earlier and earlier, thereby making the child increasingly developmentally premature. The concept of the infant being born underdeveloped is called altriciality. Humans are born with an underdeveloped brain; only 25% of their brains fully developed at birth as opposed to non-human primates where the infant is born with 45–50% brain development. Scientists have believed that the shorter gestation period can be attributed to the narrower pelvis, as the baby must be born before its head reaches a volume that cannot be accommodated by the obstetric canal.

Social assistance

Human infants are also almost always born with assistance from other humans because of the way that the pelvis is shaped. Since the pelvis and opening of birth canal face backwards, humans have difficulty giving birth themselves because they cannot guide the baby out of the canal. Non-human primates seek seclusion when giving birth because they do not need any help due to the pelvis and opening being more forward. Human infants depend on their parents much more and for much longer than other primates. Humans spend a lot of their time caring for their children as they develop whereas other species stand on their own from when they are born. The faster an infant develops, the higher the reproductive output of a female can be. So in humans, the cost of slow development of their infants is that humans reproduce relatively slowly. This phenomenon is also known as cooperative breeding.

Malleable cranium

Humans are born with a very malleable fetal head which is not fully developed when the infant exits the womb. This soft spot on the crown of the infant allows for the head to be compressed in order to better fit through the birth canal without obstructing it. This allows for the head to develop more after birth and for the cranium to continue growing without affecting the birthing process.

Challenges to the obstetrical dilemma hypothesis

The obstetrical dilemma hypothesis has had several challenges to it, as more data is collected and analyzed. Several different fields of study have taken an interest in understanding more about the human birth process and that of human ancestor species.

Early brain growth rates

Some studies have shown that higher brain growth rates happen earlier on in ontogeny than previously thought, which challenges the idea that the explanation of the obstetrical dilemma is that humans are born with underdeveloped brains. This is because if brain growth rates were largest in early development, that is when the brain size would increase the most. Premature birth would not allow for a much larger head size if most of the growth had already happened. Also, it has been suggested that maternal pelvic dimensions are sensitive to some ecological factors.

Maternal heat stress

There has been a lot of evidence linking body mass to brain mass, leading to the determination of maternal metabolism as a key factor in the growth of the fetus. Maternal constraints could be largely due to thermal stress or energy availability. A larger brain mass in the neonate corresponds to more energy needed to sustain it. It takes much more energy for the mother if the brain fully develops in the womb. If maternal energy is the limiting factor then an infant can only grow as much as the mother can sustain. Also, because fetal size is positively correlated to maternal energy use, thermal stress is an issue because the larger the fetus, the more the mother can suffer heat stress.

Environmental effects

Additional studies suggest that other factors may further complicate the obstetrical dilemma hypothesis. One of these is dietary shifts, possibly due to the emergence of agriculture. This can be both due to change in diet as well as the increase in population density since agriculture was developed; more people leads to more disease. Studies have also been done in twins to show that pelvic size may be due more to the environment in which they live than their genetics. Another study disproves the thought that narrower hips are optimized for locomotion because it was found that a Late Stone Age population Southern Africa that survived largely on terrestrial mobility had women who had uncharacteristically small body size with large pelvic canals.

Energetics of gestation and growth hypothesis

The energetics of gestation and growth (EGG) hypothesis offers a direct challenge to the obstetrical dilemma hypothesis, equating the constraints on gestation and parturition to the energy restrictions of the mother. It has been shown in studies using professional athletes and pregnant women, that there is an upper limitation to the amount of energy a woman can produce before it causes deleterious effects: approximately 2.1x their basal metabolic rate. During pregnancy the growing brain mass and length in the neonate correspond to more energy needed to sustain it. This results in a competing balance between the fetus's demand for energy and the maternal ability to meet that demand. At approximately nine months gestation, the fetus's energy needs surpasses the mother's energy limitation, correlating with the average time of birth. The newly born infant can then be sustained on breast milk, which is a more efficient, less energy demanding mechanism of nutrient transfer between mother and child. Additionally, this hypothesis demonstrates that, contrary to the obstetrical dilemma, an increased pelvic size would not be deleterious to bipedalism. Studying the running mechanics of males and females, it was shown that an increased pelvic size related to neither an increased metabolic nor structural demand on a woman.

Obstetrical dilemma revisited

The obstetrical dilemma hypothesis has also been challenged conceptually based on new studies. The authors argue that the obstetrical dilemma hypothesis assumes that human, and therefore hominid, childbirth has been a painful and dangerous experience through the species' evolution. This assumption may be fundamentally false as many early analyses focused on maternal death data from primarily females of European-descent in Western Europe and the United States during the 19th and 20th century, a limited population. In a recent study a covariation between human pelvis shape, stature, and head size is reported. It is said that females with a large head possess a birth canal that can better accommodate large-headed neonates. Mothers with large heads usually give birth to neonates with large heads. Therefore, the detected pattern of covariation contributes to ease childbirth and has likely evolved in response to strong correlational selection. A recent study aimed to evaluate the original ideas under the 'obstetrical dilemma' and provide a detailed, more complex explanation for the tight fetopelvic fit observed in humans. They propose the original obstetrical dilemma hypothesis remains valuable as a foundation to explain the complex combination of evolutionary, ecological, and biocultural pressures that constrain maternal pelvic form and fetal size.

Apprenticeship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship

A shoemaker and his apprentice c. 1914.

Electricians are often trained through apprenticeships.

Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulated occupation. Most of their training is done while working for an employer who helps the apprentices learn their trade or profession, in exchange for their continued labor for an agreed period after they have achieved measurable competencies.

Apprenticeship lengths vary significantly across sectors, professions, roles and cultures. In some cases, people who successfully complete an apprenticeship can reach the "journeyman" or professional certification level of competence. In other cases, they can be offered a permanent job at the company that provided the placement. Although the formal boundaries and terminology of the apprentice/journeyman/master system often do not extend outside guilds and trade unions, the concept of on-the-job training leading to competence over a period of years is found in any field of skilled labor.

Alternative terminology

There is no global consensus on a single term for apprenticeship. Depending on the culture, country and sector, the same or similar definitions are used to describe the terms apprenticeship, internship, and trainee-ship. The latter two terms may be preferred in the health sector. One example is internships in medicine for physicians and trainee-ships for nurses – and western countries. Apprenticeship is the preferred term of the European Commission and the one selected for use by the European Center for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP), which has developed many studies on the subject. Some non-European countries adapt European apprenticeship practices.

History

A medieval baker with his apprentice. The Bodleian Library, Oxford, England.

The system of apprenticeship first developed in the later Middle Ages and came to be supervised by craft guilds and town governments. A master craftsman was entitled to employ young people as an inexpensive form of labour in exchange for providing food, lodging and formal training in the craft. Most apprentices were males, but female apprentices were found in crafts such as seamstress, tailor, cordwainer, baker and stationer. Apprentices usually began at ten to fifteen years of age, and would live in the master craftsman's household. The contract between the craftsman, the apprentice and, generally, the apprentice's parents would often be governed by an indenture. Most apprentices aspired to becoming master craftsmen themselves on completion of their contract (usually a term of seven years), but some would spend time as a journeyman and a significant proportion would never acquire their own workshop. In Coventry those completing seven-year apprenticeships with stuff merchants were entitled to become freemen of the city.

Apprenticeship was adopted into military of the West African kingdom of Dahomey. Soldiers in the army were recruited as young as seven or eight years old, as they initially served as shield carriers for regular soldiers. After years of apprenticeship and military experience, the recruits were allowed to join the army as regular soldiers. With a combination of lifelong military experience and monetary incentives, a cohesive and well-disciplined military emerged in the Kingdom of Dahomey.

Types of apprenticeships

Apprenticeships can be divided into two main categories: Independent and Cooperative.

Independent apprenticeships are those organized and managed by employers, without any involvement from educational institutions. They happen dissociated from any educational curricula, which means that, usually, the apprentices are not involved in any educational programme at the same time but, even if they are, there is no relation between the undergoing studies and the apprenticeship.

Cooperative apprenticeships are those organized and managed in cooperation between educational institutions and employers. They vary in terms of governance, some being more employer lead and others more educational institution lead, but they are always associated with a curriculum and are designed as a mean for students to put theory in practice and master knowledge in a way that empowers them with professional autonomy. Their main characteristics could be summarized into the following:

	Institution and Employer shared Governance	Institution led Governance (long cycle)	Institution led Governance (short cycle)	Employer led Governance
Education program	ISCED 6	ISCED 6	ISCED 6	ISCED 5–6
Type of program	Institution- & work-integrated	Higher Vocational Education, Professional Higher Education, Higher Education	Higher Vocational Education, Professional Higher Education, Higher Education	Higher Vocational Education, Professional Higher Education
Average length	3–4 years	2–3 years	2–3 years	1 year
Balance theory/practice	Alternating theory & practice (50%–50%)	Short placements from few weeks to 6 months	Placements from 30 to 40% of the curriculum	Employed for a minimum of 30 hours per week, 20% of learning hours must be off-the-job
Location of learning	Institution- & work-integrated	Institution- & work-integrated	Institution- & work-integrated	Work-based
Contract	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Apprenticeship systems worldwide

Students in a vocational training restaurant, Bagan (Myanmar)

Australia

Australian Apprenticeships encompass all apprenticeships and traineeships. They cover all industry sectors in Australia and are used to achieve both 'entry-level' and career 'upskilling' objectives. There were 475,000 Australian Apprentices in-training as at 31 March 2012, an increase of 2.4% from the previous year. Australian Government employer and employee incentives may be applicable, while State and Territory Governments may provide public funding support for the training element of the initiative. Australian Apprenticeships combine time at work with formal training and can be full-time, part-time or school-based.

Australian apprentice and traineeship services are dedicated to promoting retention, therefore much effort is made to match applicants with the right apprenticeship or traineeship. This is done with the aid of aptitude tests, tips, and information on 'how to retain an apprentice or apprenticeship'.

Information and resources on potential apprenticeship and traineeship occupations are available in over sixty industries.

The distinction between the terms apprentices and trainees lies mainly around traditional trades and the time it takes to gain a qualification. The Australian government uses Australian Apprenticeships Centres to administer and facilitate Australian Apprenticeships so that funding can be disseminated to eligible businesses and apprentices and trainees and to support the whole process as it underpins the future skills of Australian industry. Australia also has a fairly unusual safety net in place for businesses and Australian Apprentices with its Group Training scheme. This is where businesses that are not able to employ the Australian Apprentice for the full period until they qualify, are able to lease or hire the Australian Apprentice from a Group Training Organisation. It is a safety net, because the Group Training Organisation is the employer and provides continuity of employment and training for the Australian Apprentice.

In addition to a safety net, Group Training Organisations (GTO) have other benefits such as additional support for both the Host employer and the trainee/apprentice through an industry consultant who visits regularly to make sure that the trainee/apprentice are fulfilling their work and training obligations with their Host employer. There is the additional benefit of the trainee/apprentice being employed by the GTO reducing the Payroll/Superannuation and other legislative requirements on the Host employer who pays as invoiced per agreement.

Austria

Apprenticeship training in Austria is organized in a school system with long-term training parts. So it is possible to get the Matura needed to enter university. WIFI company-based training of apprentices is complemented by compulsory attendance of a part-time vocational school for apprentices (Berufsschule). It lasts two to four years – the duration varies among the 250 legally recognized apprenticeship trades.

About 40 percent of all Austrian teenagers enter apprenticeship training upon completion of compulsory education (at age 15). This number has been stable since the 1950s.

The five most popular trades are: Retail Salesperson (5,000 people complete this apprenticeship per year), Clerk (3,500 / year), Car Mechanic (2,000 / year), Hairdresser (1,700 / year), Cook (1,600 / year). There are many smaller trades with small numbers of apprentices, e.g. "EDV-Systemtechniker" (Sysadmin), which is completed by fewer than 100 people a year.

The Apprenticeship Leave Certificate provides the apprentice with access to two different vocational careers. On the one hand, it is a prerequisite for the admission to the Master Craftsman Exam and for qualification tests, and on the other hand it gives access to higher education via the TVE-Exam or the Higher Education Entrance Exam which are prerequisites for taking up studies at colleges, universities, "Fachhochschulen", post-secondary courses and post-secondary colleges.

The person responsible for overseeing the training inside the company is called "Lehrherr" or "Ausbilder". An Ausbilder must prove that he has the professional qualifications needed to educate another person, has no criminal record and is an otherwise-respectable person. The law states that "the person wanting to educate a young apprentice must prove that he has an ethical way of living and the civic qualities of a good citizen".

Canada

See also: Red Seal Program

Canadian Inter-provincial 'Red Seal' certification (note that license number was replaced with the word 'CANOE')

In Canada, apprenticeships tend to be formalized for craft trades and technician level qualifications. At the completion of the provincial exam, they may write the Provincial Standard exam. British Columbia is one province that uses these exams as the provincial exam. This means a qualification for the province will satisfy the whole country. The inter-provincial exam questions are agreed upon by all provinces of the time. At the time there were only four provinces, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Upper Canada (now Ontario), and Lower Canada (now Quebec).

In Canada, each province has its own apprenticeship program, which may be the only route into jobs within compulsory trades.

Organisations such as the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship and Employment and Social Development Canada help to oversee the programmes.

Czech Republic

Cook with her apprentice, Euroinstitut vocational school, Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, the term "vocational school" (učiliště) can refer to the two, three or four years of secondary practical education. Apprenticeship Training is implemented under Education Act (školský zákon). Apprentices spend about 30–60% of their time in companies (sociální partneři školy) and the rest in formal education. Depending on the profession, they may work for two to three days a week in the company and then spend two or three days at a vocational school.

France

In France, apprenticeships also developed between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, with guilds structured around apprentices, journeymen and master craftsmen, continuing in this way until 1791, when the guilds were suppressed.

The first laws regarding apprenticeships were passed in 1851. From 1919, young people had to take 150 hours of theory and general lessons in their subject a year. This minimum training time rose to 360 hours a year in 1961, then 400 in 1986.

The first training centres for apprentices (centres de formation d'apprentis, CFAs) appeared in 1961, and in 1971 apprenticeships were legally made part of professional training. In 1986 the age limit for beginning an apprenticeship was raised from 20 to 25. From 1987 the range of qualifications achieveable through an apprenticeship was widened to include the brevet professionnel (certificate of vocational aptitude), the bac professionnel (vocational baccalaureate diploma), the brevet de technicien supérieur (advanced technician's certificate), engineering diplomas, master's degree and more.

On January 18, 2005, President Jacques Chirac announced the introduction of a law on a programme for social cohesion comprising the three pillars of employment, housing and equal opportunities. The French government pledged to further develop apprenticeship as a path to success at school and to employment, based on its success: in 2005, 80% of young French people who had completed an apprenticeship entered employment. In France, the term apprenticeship often denotes manual labor but it also includes other jobs like secretary, manager, engineer, shop assistant... The plan aimed to raise the number of apprentices from 365,000 in 2005 to 500,000 in 2009. To achieve this aim, the government is, for example, granting tax relief for companies when they take on apprentices. (Since 1925 a tax has been levied to pay for apprenticeships.) The minister in charge of the campaign, Jean-Louis Borloo, also hoped to improve the image of apprenticeships with an information campaign, as they are often connected with academic failure at school and an ability to grasp only practical skills and not theory. After the civil unrest end of 2005, the government, led by prime minister Dominique de Villepin, announced a new law. Dubbed "law on equality of chances", it created the First Employment Contract as well as manual apprenticeship from as early as 14 years of age. From this age, students are allowed to quit the compulsory school system in order to quickly learn a vocation. This measure has long been a policy of conservative French political parties, and was met by tough opposition from trade unions and students.

Germany

A master chimney sweep and apprentice in 2008

Main article: Apprenticeship in Germany

Apprenticeships are part of Germany's dual education system. The Berufsakademie is a dual System to get the bachelor's degree and the Gesellenbrief. In the Welding Technology in Germany it is not permitted to work without a valid Schweißerprüfung. Such form an integral part of many people's working life. Finding good employment without having completed an apprenticeship is almost impossible. For the Technikerschule, Höhere Fachschule, Betriebsleiterlehrgang and Seefahrt such as food technology, a completed apprenticeship and work recommended. The degree is Staatlich geprüfter Techniker (State-Certified Technician).

India

In India, the Apprentices Act was enacted in 1961. It regulates the programme of training of apprentices in the industry so as to conform to the syllabi, period of training etc. as laid down by the Central Apprenticeship Council and to utilise fully the facilities available in industry for imparting practical training with a view to meeting the requirements of skilled manpower for industry.

The Apprentices Act enacted in 1961 and was implemented effectively in 1962. Initially, the Act envisaged training of trade apprentices. The Act was amended in 1973 to include training of graduate and diploma engineers as "Graduate" & "Technician" Apprentices. The Act was further amended in 1986 to bring within its purview the training of the 10+2 vocational stream as "Technician (Vocational)" Apprentices.

Responsibility of implementing Apprentices Act

Overall responsibility is with the Directorate General of Employment & Training (DGE&T) in the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

• For Trades Apprentices (ITI-Passed/Fresher) : DGE&T is also responsible for implementation of the Act in respect of Trade Apprentices in the Central Govt. Undertakings & Departments. This is done through six Regional Directorates of Apprenticeship Training located at Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Faridabad. While State Apprenticeship Advisers are responsible for implementation of the Act in respect of Trade Apprentices in State Government Undertakings/ Departments and Private Establishments.
• For Graduate, Technician (Polytechnic Diploma holder) and Technician (H.S Vocational-Passed) Apprentices: Department of Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development is responsible for implementation of the through four Boards of Apprenticeship Training located at Chennai, Kanpur, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Ireland

See also: SOLAS (Ireland)

In Ireland the apprenticeships are split into two main categories: "craft" and "new". The main craft trades and professions have been designated by SOLAS and come within the scope of the Statutory Apprenticeship system, which is organised by SOLAS in co-operation with the Department of Education, employers and unions. An Apprenticeship Council is also in place. An apprenticeship provides on-the-job training with an employer. It usually alternates between off-the-job training in an education centre and on-the-job training at an employer's workplace. An apprenticeship generally lasts for 4 years, during which time there are 3 different periods in off-the-job training. This training phase takes place in an Education and Training Board (ETB) Training Centre while the subsequent off-the-job training phases take place in an Institute of Technology. After on-going assessments through on-the-job competence testing as well as off-the-job modular assessments and examinations, if passed successfully the apprentice is awarded an Advanced Certificate in craft (level 6 on the National Framework of Qualifications).

New apprenticeships in other areas of industry were introduced from 2016, and can lead to an award between Levels 5–10 on the National Framework of Qualifications. Each apprenticeship programme lasts between 2 and 4 years. Industry-led groups which work with education and training providers and other partners, oversee the development and roll-out of new apprenticeships. New apprenticeships in ICT, finance and hospitality include software development, accounting technician and commis chef.

Liberia

In Liberia, tailor apprenticeships engage with more skilled tailors to learn the craft and the skills that may be taught in more traditional school settings. They learn from master tailors, which gives the apprentices a promised job once their training is completed. Apprentices must have a grasp on patterns, measurement, and other mathematics skills. They demonstrate full concept mastery before moving on to the next piece of clothing. Instead of formal testing for evaluation, articles of clothing must meet the quality standards before they can be sold and before the apprentice can begin a new design.

Nigeria

Main article: Igbo apprentice system

The Igbo apprentice system is a framework of formal and informal indentured agreements between parties that ultimately facilitate burgeoning entrepreneurial communities within the Igbos. It is an economic model practiced widely by Igbos and originated in South-Eastern Nigeria. Its purposes were and still remains to spur economic growth and stability, and sustainable livelihood by financing and investing in human resources through vocational training.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, the Apprenticeship Training is implemented under a National Apprenticeship Ordinance 1962 and Apprenticeship Rules 1966. It regulates apprenticeship programs in industry and a TVET institute for theoretical instructions. It is obligatory for industry having fifty or more workers in an apprenticeable trade to operate apprenticeship training in the industry. Entire cost of training is borne by industry including wages to apprentices. The provincial governments through Technical Education & Vocational Training Authorities (Punjab TEVTA, Sindh TEVTA, KP TEVTA, Balochistan TEVTA and AJK TEVTA) enforce implementation of apprenticeship.

The training period varies for different trades ranging from 1–4 years. As of 2015, more than 30,000 apprentices are being trained in 2,751 industries in 276 trades across Pakistan. This figure constitutes less than 10% of institution based Vocational Training i.e. more than 350 thousand annually.

Recently, Government of Pakistan through National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) has initiated to reform existing system of apprenticeship. Highlights of the modern apprenticeship system are:

– Inclusion of services, agriculture and mining sector – Cost sharing by Industry and Government – Regulating and formalizing Informal Apprenticeships – Mainstream Apprenticeship Qualifications with National Vocational Qualifications Framework (Pakistan NVQF) – Increased participation of Female – Training Cost reimbursement (for those industries training more number of apprentices than the required) – Assessment and Certification of apprentices jointly by Industry – Chamber of Commerce & Industry – Government – Apprenticeship Management Committee (having representation of 40% employers, 20% workers and 40% government officials)

Switzerland

See also: Education in Switzerland and Vocational education § Switzerland

In Switzerland, after the end of compulsory schooling, two thirds of young people follow a vocational training. Ninety percent of them are in the dual education system.

Switzerland has an apprenticeship similarly to Germany and Austria. The educational system is ternar, which is basically dual education system with mandatory practical courses. The length of an apprenticeship can be 2, 3 or 4 years.

Length

Apprenticeships with a length of 2 years are for persons with weaker school results. The certificate awarded after successfully completing a 2-year apprenticeship is called "Attestation de formation professionnelle" (AFP ^[fr]) in French, "Eidgenössisches Berufsattest" (EBA ^[de]) in German and "Certificato federale di formazione pratica" (CFP) in Italian. It could be translated as "Attestation of professional formation".

Apprenticeship with a length of 3 or 4 years are the most common ones. The certificate awarded after successfully completing a 3 or 4-year apprenticeship is called "Certificat Fédérale de Capacité" (CFC ^[fr]) in French, "Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis" (EFZ ^[de]) in German and "Attestato federale di capacità" (AFC) in Italian. It could be translated as "Federal Certificate of Proficiency".

Some crafts, such as electrician, are educated in lengths of 3 and 4 years. In this case, an Electrician with 4 years apprenticeship gets more theoretical background than one with 3 years apprenticeship. Also, but that is easily lost in translation, the profession has a different name.

Each of the over 300 nationwide defined vocational profiles has defined framework – conditions as length of education, theoretical and practical learning goals and certification conditions.

Age of the apprentices

Typically an apprenticeship is started aged 15 or 18 after finishing general education. Some apprenticeships have a recommend or required age of 18. There is formally no maximum age, however, for persons above 21 it is hard to find a company due to companies preferring younger ages due to the lower cost of labour.

Turkey

In Turkey, apprenticeship has been part of the small business culture for centuries since the time of Seljuk Turks who claimed Anatolia as their homeland in the 11th century.

There are three levels of apprenticeship. The first level is the apprentice, i.e., the "çırak" in Turkish. The second level is pre-master which is called, "kalfa" in Turkish. The mastery level is called as "usta" and is the highest level of achievement. An 'usta' is eligible to take in and accept new 'ciraks' to train and bring them up. The training process usually starts when the small boy is of age 10–11 and becomes a full-grown master at the age of 20–25. Many years of hard work and disciplining under the authority of the master is the key to the young apprentice's education and learning process.

In Turkey today there are many vocational schools that train children to gain skills to learn a new profession. The student after graduation looks for a job at the nearest local marketplace usually under the authority of a master.

United Kingdom

Apprenticeships in the United Kingdom are devolved. It has a long tradition in the United Kingdom, dating back to around the 12th century. Apprenticeships flourished in the 14th century and were expanded during the industrial revolution. In modern times, apprenticeships were formalised in 1964 by act of parliament and they continue to be in widespread use in all four nations, with hundreds of apprenticeships to choose from.

United States

Main article: Apprenticeship in the United States

Apprenticeship programs in the United States are regulated by the Smith–Hughes Act (1917), The National Industrial Recovery Act (1933), and National Apprenticeship Act, also known as the "Fitzgerald Act."

The number of American apprentices has increased from 375,000 in 2014 to 500,000 in 2016, while the federal government intends to see 750,000 by 2019, particularly by expanding the apprenticeship model to include white-collar occupations such as information technology.

Analogues at universities and professional development

The modern concept of an internship is similar to an apprenticeship but not as rigorous. Universities still use apprenticeship schemes in their production of scholars: bachelors are promoted to masters and then produce a thesis under the oversight of a supervisor before the corporate body of the university recognises the achievement of the standard of a doctorate. Another view of this system is of graduate students in the role of apprentices, post-doctoral fellows as journeymen, and professors as masters . In the "Wealth of Nations" Adam Smith states that:

Seven years seem anciently to have been, all over Europe, the usual term established for the duration of apprenticeships in the greater part of incorporated trades. All such incorporations were anciently called universities, which indeed is the proper Latin name for any incorporation whatever. The university of smiths, the university of tailors, etc., are expressions which we commonly meet with in the old charters of ancient towns [...] As to have wrought seven years under a master properly qualified was necessary in order to entitle any person to become a master, and to have himself apprenticed in a common trade; so to have studied seven years under a master properly qualified was necessary to entitle him to become a master, teacher, or doctor (words anciently synonymous) in the liberal arts, and to have scholars or apprentices (words likewise originally synonymous) to study under him.

Also similar to apprenticeships are the professional development arrangements for new graduates in the professions of accountancy, engineering, management consulting, and the law. A British example was training contracts known as 'articles of clerkship'. The learning curve in modern professional service firms, such as law firms, consultancies or accountancies, generally resembles the traditional master-apprentice model: the newcomer to the firm is assigned to one or several more experienced colleagues (ideally partners in the firm) and learns his skills on the job.

Hagiography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagiography

Page from the Vita Sancti Martini by Sulpicius Severus

A hagiography (/ˌhæɡiˈɒɡrəfi/; from Ancient Greek ἅγιος, hagios 'holy', and -γραφία, -graphia 'writing') is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might consist of a biography or vita, a description of the saint's deeds or miracles (from Latin vita, life, which begins the title of most medieval biographies), an account of the saint's martyrdom (called a passio), or be a combination of these.

Christian hagiographies focus on the lives, and notably the miracles, ascribed to men and women canonized by the Roman Catholic church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Church of the East. Other religious traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Sikhism and Jainism also create and maintain hagiographical texts (such as the Sikh Janamsakhis) concerning saints, gurus and other individuals believed to be imbued with sacred power.

Hagiographic works, especially those of the Middle Ages, can incorporate a record of institutional and local history, and evidence of popular cults, customs, and traditions.

However, when referring to modern, non-ecclesiastical works, the term hagiography is often used today as a pejorative reference to biographies and histories whose authors are perceived to be uncritical or excessively reverential toward their subject.

Christian

Development

Hagiography constituted an important literary genre in the early Christian church, providing some informational history along with the more inspirational stories and legends. A hagiographic account of an individual saint could consist of a biography (vita), a description of the saint's deeds or miracles, an account of the saint's martyrdom (passio), or be a combination of these.

The genre of lives of the saints first came into being in the Roman Empire as legends about Christian martyrs were recorded. The dates of their deaths formed the basis of martyrologies. In the 4th century, there were three main types of catalogs of lives of the saints:

• annual calendar catalogue, or menaion (in Greek, μηναῖον, menaion means "monthly" (adj, neut), lit. "lunar"), biographies of the saints to be read at sermons;
• synaxarion ("something that collects"; Greek συναξάριον, from σύναξις, synaxis i.e. "gathering", "collection", "compilation"), or a short version of lives of the saints, arranged by dates;
• paterikon ("that of the Fathers"; Greek πατερικόν; in Greek and Latin, pater means "father"), or biography of the specific saints, chosen by the catalog compiler.

In Western Europe, hagiography was one of the more important vehicles for the study of inspirational history during the Middle Ages. The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine compiled a great deal of medieval hagiographic material, with a strong emphasis on miracle tales. Lives were often written to promote the cult of local or national states, and in particular to develop pilgrimages to visit relics. The bronze Gniezno Doors of Gniezno Cathedral in Poland are the only Romanesque doors in Europe to feature the life of a saint. The life of Saint Adalbert of Prague, who is buried in the cathedral, is shown in 18 scenes, probably based on a lost illuminated copy of one of his Lives.

The Bollandist Society continues the study, academic assembly, appraisal and publication of materials relating to the lives of Christian saints. (See Acta Sanctorum.)

Medieval England

Many of the important hagiographical texts composed in medieval England were written in the vernacular dialect Anglo-Norman. With the introduction of Latin literature into England in the 7th and 8th centuries the genre of the life of the saint grew increasingly popular. When one contrasts it to the popular heroic poem, such as Beowulf, one finds that they share certain common features. In Beowulf, the titular character battles against Grendel and his mother, while the saint, such as Athanasius' Anthony (one of the original sources for the hagiographic motif) or the character of Guthlac, battles against figures no less substantial in a spiritual sense. Both genres then focus on the hero-warrior figure, but with the distinction that the saint is of a spiritual sort.

Imitation of the life of Christ was then the benchmark against which saints were measured, and imitation of the lives of saints was the benchmark against which the general population measured itself. In Anglo-Saxon and medieval England, hagiography became a literary genre par excellence for the teaching of a largely illiterate audience. Hagiography provided priests and theologians with classical handbooks in a form that allowed them the rhetorical tools necessary to present their faith through the example of the saints' lives.

Of all the English hagiographers no one was more prolific nor so aware of the importance of the genre as Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham. His work Lives of the Saints contains set of sermons on saints' days, formerly observed by the English Church. The text comprises two prefaces, one in Latin and one in Old English, and 39 lives beginning on 25 December with the nativity of Christ and ending with three texts to which no saints' days are attached. The text spans the entire year and describes the lives of many saints, both English and continental, and harks back to some of the earliest saints of the early church.

There are two known instances where saint's lives were adapted into vernacular plays in Britain. These are the Cornish-language works Beunans Meriasek and Beunans Ke, about the lives of Saints Meriasek and Kea, respectively.

Other examples of hagiographies from England include:

• the Chronicle by Hugh Candidus
• the Secgan Manuscript
• the list of John Leyland
• possibly the book Life by Saint Cadog
• Vita Sancti Ricardi Episcopi et Confessoris Cycestrensis/ Life of Richard of Chichester by Ralph Bocking.
• The Book of Margery Kempe is an example of autohagiography, in which the subject dictates her life using the hagiographic form.

Medieval Ireland

Calendar entries for 1 and 2 January of the Martyrology of Oengus.

Ireland is notable in its rich hagiographical tradition, and for the large amount of material which was produced during the Middle Ages. Irish hagiographers wrote primarily in Latin while some of the later saint's lives were written in the hagiographer's native vernacular Irish. Of particular note are the lives of St. Patrick, St. Columba (Latin)/Colum Cille (Irish) and St. Brigit/Brigid—Ireland's three patron saints. The earliest extant Life was written by Cogitosus. Additionally, several Irish calendars relating to the feastdays of Christian saints (sometimes called martyrologies or feastologies) contained abbreviated synopses of saint's lives, which were compiled from many different sources. Notable examples include the Martyrology of Tallaght and the Félire Óengusso. Such hagiographical calendars were important in establishing lists of native Irish saints, in imitation of continental calendars.

Eastern Orthodoxy

Visual hagiography of St Paraskeva (Patriarchate of Peć, 1719–20).

Example of Greek Orthodox visual hagiography. This is one of the best known surviving Byzantine mosaics in Hagia Sophia – Christ Pantocrator flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist made in the 12th century.

In the 10th century, a Byzantine monk Simeon Metaphrastes was the first one to change the genre of lives of the saints into something different, giving it a moralizing and panegyrical character. His catalog of lives of the saints became the standard for all of the Western and Eastern hagiographers, who would create relative biographies and images of the ideal saints by gradually departing from the real facts of their lives. Over the years, the genre of lives of the saints had absorbed a number of narrative plots and poetic images (often, of pre-Christian origin, such as dragon fighting etc.), mediaeval parables, short stories and anecdotes.

The genre of lives of the saints was introduced in the Slavic world in the Bulgarian Empire in the late 9th and early 10th century, where the first original hagiographies were produced on Cyril and Methodius, Clement of Ohrid and Naum of Preslav. Eventually the Bulgarians brought this genre to Kievan Rus' together with writing and also in translations from the Greek language. In the 11th century, the Rus' began to compile the original life stories of the first Rus'ian saints, e.g. Boris and Gleb, Theodosius Pechersky etc. In the 16th century, Metropolitan Macarius expanded the list of the Rus'ian saints and supervised the compiling process of their life stories. They would all be compiled in the so-called Velikiye chet'yi-minei catalog (Великие Четьи-Минеи, or Great Menaion Reader), consisting of 12 volumes in accordance with each month of the year. They were revised and expanded by St. Dimitry of Rostov in 1684–1705.

Today, the works in the genre of lives of the saints represent a valuable historical source and reflection of different social ideas, world outlook and aesthetic concepts of the past.

Oriental Orthodoxy

The Oriental Orthodox Churches also have their own hagiographic traditions. For instance, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church hagiographies in the Ge'ez language are known as gadl (Saint's Life). There are some 200 hagiographies about indigenous saints. They are among the most important Medieval Ethiopian written sources, and some have accurate historical information. They are written by the disciples of the saints. Some were written a long time after the death of a saint, but others were written not long after the saint's demise. Fragments from an Old Nubian hagiography of Saint Michael are extant.

Judaism

Jewish hagiographic writings are common in the case of Talmudic and Kabbalistic writings and later in the Hasidic movement.

Islamic

Hagiography in Islam began in the Arabic language with biographical writing about the Prophet Muhammad in the 8th century CE, a tradition known as sīra. From about the 10th century CE, a genre generally known as manāqib also emerged, which comprised biographies of the imams (madhāhib) who founded different schools of Islamic thought (madhhab) about shariʿa, and of Ṣūfī saints. Over time, hagiography about Ṣūfīs and their miracles came to predominate in the genre of manāqib.

Likewise influenced by early Islamic research into hadiths and other biographical information about the Prophet, Persian scholars began writing Persian hagiography, again mainly of Sūfī saints, in the eleventh century CE.

The Islamicisation of the Turkish regions led to the development of Turkish biographies of saints, beginning in the 13th century CE and gaining pace around the 16th. Production remained dynamic and kept pace with scholarly developments in historical biographical writing until 1925, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (d. 1938) placed an interdiction on Ṣūfī brotherhoods. As Turkey relaxed legal restrictions on Islamic practice in the 1950s and the 1980s, Ṣūfīs returned to publishing hagiography, a trend which continues in the 21st century.