An apprenticeship lasts as long as it takes the apprentice to pass the test for the trade, and the years quoted for each trade are only planning ranges, because the corpus’s own sources give a simple craft anywhere from six months to two years and a complex one from two to seven. Divide the term into stages that each end in an observable milestone, write the term and its exit terms down before it starts, and treat an apprentice stuck on the same simple tasks for a long time as a sign of exploitation, not of slow learning.
Part of System Architecture
How long a village apprenticeship runs, how it is divided into stages, and what each side is owed during it.
The Corpus Gives Five Different Schedules
This corpus does not agree with itself on how long an apprenticeship takes. The figures below are the sources’ own, not mine, and none is reconciled with the others.
| Source | Simple trade | Complex trade | Stage lengths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrier article | Not split by trade; 2-4 years for a full apprenticeship | Master at 36+ months, by demonstration | Observer 1-3 months, Assistant 3-9, Practitioner 9-24, Journeyman 24-36 |
| Apprenticeship Systems | 1-2 years | 2-4 years; medical and mechanical 3-5 | Not staged |
| Labour apprenticeship systems | 6-12 months | 4-7 years; highly complex fields open-ended | Four phases, advance on competence |
| Division of Labor | Not given | Master from year 2 onward | Weeks 1-4, months 1-3, months 3-12, years 1-2, year 2+ |
| Apprenticeship | Not given | Journeyman phase “ongoing” | Observer 2-4 weeks, Beginner 3-6 months, Practitioner 6-18 months |
The sources even disagree about when someone counts as a master: after 36 months in the carrier, from year 2 in Division of Labor. The only point on which they all agree is the one that matters. Labour apprenticeship systems states it plainly: progress should be based on demonstrated competency, not time elapsed, because fixed time-based promotion produces incompetent practitioners with credentials. Division of Labor says the same: do not advance people based on time served.
So the practical rule is: the clock plans the programme; the test ends it. Use the longer ranges for anything dangerous or precise, and do not shorten them because the community is impatient.
Stages Exist To Create Checkpoints
Five stages are the carrier’s frame: observer, assistant, practitioner, journeyman and master. What matters is not the names but that each ends in something a third person can check:
- Observer learns the vocabulary, the tools, the safety rules and the layout of the work. It ends when the apprentice can name the tools and states the safety rules correctly.
- Assistant does simple supervised tasks. It ends when basic tasks are done correctly under watch.
- Practitioner does standard work with decreasing supervision. It ends when routine jobs are done alone to standard.
- Journeyman handles unusual problems and starts teaching newer apprentices.
- Master is reached by demonstration, not by the calendar (Mastery Demonstration).
Stage definitions for a specific craft are in Milestone Definitions.
What The Apprentice Is Owed
Labour apprenticeship systems sets out a common structure, which this article takes as a starting point:
- Year 1: lodging and food from the master’s household, with the apprentice’s labour paying for the instruction.
- Years 2-3: small payments in goods or food beyond subsistence, rising each year.
- Final year and after: earnings closer to journeyman rates while still under supervision.
- Service after completion: the apprentice works for the community or the workshop at below-market rates for a period proportional to the training, such as one year after a two-year term.
In return the master owes the full content of the craft, without holding back trade secrets, and protection from exploitation beyond the written agreement. Both sides need a written or publicly witnessed agreement stating what is taught, how long, the compensation and what is owed afterwards, since vague agreements produce disputes.
Worked Example: How Long To Replace A Sole Operator
Take a community that depends on one person to run the village pressure vessel, and wants two qualified successors. The carrier gives a ratio of 1:1 or 1:2 for the most dangerous crafts and 36 months or more to master. At 1:2, one master trains both together:
- Time: 36 months, or three years.
- Output: 2 qualified successors.
At 1:1 the two successors come one after the other: 2 × 36 = 72 months, or six years, unless a second qualified person can take one. The Master-Apprentice Ratio article makes the same calculation in general: output is masters times apprentices each can teach, per term. If the sole operator is sixty, six years is a long time to wait. The arithmetic is the reason to start the first apprenticeship before it is urgent.
Common Mistakes
- Promoting on the calendar. A year passing is not a skill gained.
- Leaving the term unwritten. Disputes about the end date are the most common.
- Keeping an apprentice on routine tasks for years. Labour apprenticeship systems notes that an apprentice doing the same simple tasks for two years signals that something is wrong.
- Making service after completion open-ended. It should be proportional and written.
- Compressing a hazardous trade to save time.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Selection & Matching — who gets a place and with which master
- Combine with: Milestone Definitions — the checks that end each stage