Page 20 - Choices into Action

Schools have the flexibility to choose the organi- zational model for a teacher-adviser program that best meets the needs of their students and the school community, while reflecting provin- cial and board policy. Principals should consult with their school councils, program advisory teams, teachers, and students before designing the school’s teacher-adviser program and throughout the design process. House systems, enhanced home rooms, or “schools within schools” are examples of models for schools to consider.
CAREER EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES
Schools must offer a range of career exploration activities and regularly invite partners from the community to design, participate in, and deliver these activities. Career exploration activities pro- vide students with practical applications of classroom experiences, as well as opportunities to make connections between what happens in school and what happens in the workplace or the community. Career exploration activities identify relevant applications of students’ aca- demic studies and provide information about how people are contributing to society and the economy (role models). Career Gateway, a Ministry of Education and Training website, is an important information source for elementary and secondary school students.
Students in Grades 1 to 6 are becoming aware of the people in their community and the work they do (at home, on the job, and as volunteers). Teachers should encourage this growing interest by teaching students to observe and ask ques- tions such as the following: Who is involved? What skills do they need to perform this task or carry out this job?
Students in Grades 7 to 12 are more concerned about their futures and how they will fit in at high school, university, or college, during apprenticeship, or in the world of work. Principals and teachers must ensure that stu- dents in these grades have access to a broad range of career exploration opportunities, including opportunities in areas not known to students. Teachers and students should take advantage of opportunities that exist in the local and, where possible, the wider community. Teachers should be sure to include activities that are both for-profit and non-profit and in both the private and public sectors, including busi- ness, industry, government agencies, arts and culture, and volunteer organizations. Students who are investigating a particular career in a specific sector (e.g., the construction industry) may require a longer and more focused activity in that sector, such as a cooperative education placement.
Career exploration activities can take many forms: visits from guest speakers, contacts with career mentors, involvement in simulation pro- grams (e.g., Junior Achievement programs), and attendance at career conferences (e.g., Women in Science and Engineering). Work-site tours or field trips, job shadowing, volunteer work, work expe- rience and cooperative education, the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP), and school–work transition programs are some of the possible out-of-school activities or programs.
Work experience and cooperative education placements give students opportunities to com- bine their academic studies with a “real world” experience. Work experience is part of a second- ary school credit course and provides students with a learning opportunity in a workplace for a
PROGRAM DELIVERY COMPONENTS
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