Trades and tech programs

Paid internships that place high school students with Alberta employers in skilled trades, ICT, health, agriculture, forestry and energy. Students earn high school credits while working and can roll a placement into a Registered Apprenticeship. Free to students; start dates vary across the province.

Be a full-time student and a registered apprentice at the same time. Students split their week between school and an approved work site, earning one high school credit for every 25 hours on the job (up to 41 credits), while those hours also count toward journeyperson certification. Free application through Apprenticeship and Industry Training.

Earn high school credits and a post-secondary credential or workplace certification at the same time, across more than 20 options: skilled trades (welding, carpentry, pipe trades, automotive, heavy equipment), software and web development, IT, health care, aviation, business, culinary and construction. Offered at no direct tuition cost. Students enrol through their high school.

More than 40 dual credit courses for 2026–27 across nine areas: arts and tech, business, communication, health, human services, justice, math and engineering, sciences and trades, including an Introduction to the Trades pathway. Finishing one or more courses guarantees admission to a Lethbridge Polytechnic program (apprenticeship and competitive-entry programs excepted). Ask your guidance counsellor.

Take Red Deer Polytechnic courses while still in high school and graduate with both credits, or even a certificate. Options include psychology, biology for health professions, sociology, personal fitness and an introduction to the construction trades. Talk to your guidance counsellor to register.

Dual credit in business, early learning and child care, education, health (including health care aide), humanities and skilled trades. Start with your guidance counsellor, who sends your permission package to NWP; you then apply online and hear back in three to four weeks. The $80 application fee is waived for 2026–27.

Eleven college courses you can take in high school for both credits: anatomy and physiology, digital design, video production, animation, esports business, medical terminology, criminal justice, sociology, legal studies and child development.

Twenty-three dual credit opportunities in northern Alberta: trades (carpenter, electrician, welder, heavy equipment technician), health care aide, practical nurse, primary care paramedic, business, power engineering, social work, education assistant and university studies. Bursary forms are available; start with your school.

An apprenticeship-style agriculture program: train on-site under experienced farm staff in one of 13 pathways, from beef, dairy and equine to field crops, greenhouse, poultry, sheep and swine. Earn up to 16 Grade 12 diploma credits and a credential toward a career in agriculture. Enrolment is year-round.

Bootcamps and dual-credit courses focusing on the intersection of agriculture, drone telemetry, precision farming, and data science. Students use Olds College's smart farm and tech facilities.

Registration for the regional qualifiers opens in early January. Alberta students compete in trades and technology contests at regionals, with winners advancing to the provincial competition and on to Skills Canada nationals.

Hands-on week-long camps at SAIT in trades and technology: welding, construction, automotive and aviation mechanics, electronics, engineering, computers and media arts, plus career-skills camps for high school students. Each week has its own registration deadline.