pupilage

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The condition of being a pupil.

   “In 1875, however, he left the firm and as he was still under 21, it was arranged that he should serve an additional pupilage, this time with the Midland Railway under S. W. Johnson, who had migrated to Derby from the Great Eastern two years before.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The period during which one is a pupil.

   “A pupilage was normally two years, after three or four years as a premium apprentice.”