On Oct. 29, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor issued itsfinal rulefor apprenticeship programs, labor standards for registration, and amendment of the regulations in the Federal Register.

An important aspect of the new regulations changes requirements for apprenticeship instructors, and states they “must have training in teaching techniques and adult learning styles, which may occur before or after the apprenticeship instructor has started to provide the related technical instruction.”

The HVACR & Plumbing Instructor Workshop, which is sponsored by several industry organization such as PHCC, ACCA, RSES, AHRI and others, would like to remind plumbers that this new requirement related to instruction can be met by attending the 2009 HVACR & Plumbing Instructor Workshop, March 11-13.

Warren Lupson, chair of the 2009 HVACR & Plumbing Instructor Workshop Steering Committee, announced, “These are important new changes to the ways instructors must be prepared as they continue to lead apprenticeship and other learning opportunities.”

Those interested should visitwww.instructorworkshop.org. Instructors and program administrators can see the entire array of educational programs available for HVACR and plumbing instructors.

These new DOL regulations will take effect Dec. 28, 2008. State apprenticeship agencies have up to two years to come into compliance with all provisions of the new regulations. (The fill set of regulations may be found at theU.S. Department of Labor website.)

Complete registration and lodging information for the 2009 HVACR & Plumbing Instructor Workshop can be foundhere. There is no registration fee to attend this industry event sponsored by ACCA, AHRI, CARE, HARDI, NATE, PHCC Educational Foundation, RSES and SkillsUSA.