Page 24 - Choices into Action

further clarification in this area from their pro- fessional organizations and school boards. Ethical and legal handbooks offering advice and assistance in this area are also available from professional organizations such as the Ontario School Counsellors’ Association and the Canadian Guidance and Counselling Association.
If during the course of a counselling relationship a guidance counsellor or other board employee becomes aware that the student may be or may have been suffering abuse, the guidance counsel- lor or other board employee is required by the Child and Family Services Act to report the sus- picion to the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) if the student is under sixteen years of age. (Refer to Policy/Program Memorandum No. 9, “Child in Need of Protection/Child Abuse Reporting Requirements”, December 15, 1986, for further information.)
PROGRAM ADVISORY TEAMS
Each principal will establish a team to advise him or her on the development, implementation, and review of the school’s guidance and career education program. Membership should include representatives from the school’s administrative and teaching staff (e.g., guidance counsellors, teacher-advisers, special education teachers, cooperative education teachers), the school coun- cil, students, parents, and others, if appropriate, from the community (e.g., representatives of the Industry Education Council, local training boards, and social service agencies). Members of the team should be chosen for their knowledge of the wide range of learning opportunities available in the broader community as well as in the school. Principals should seek advice from their school councils regarding the range of membership from the community.
A school’s program advisory team should have responsibility for:
– providing advice on the development and implementation of the school’s guidance and career education program;
– reviewing the results of the program’s effec- tiveness survey and making recommendations for program improvement;
– assisting the principal with the communication of the guidance and career education program plan to students, staff, parents, and the community.
Schools within a board may collaborate on the selection of an advisory team that could act on behalf of a number of schools.
PROGRAM DELIVERY COMPONENTS
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