Page 29 - Creating Pathways to Success

programs include various forms of experiential learning and programs such as the cooperative education, dual credit, Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM), Ontario Youth Apprenticeship (OYAP), and school-work transition programs. Finally, students’ activities and experiences in the community, including their required community involvement activities, volunteering activities, and part-time work experiences, can provide important information for students as they apply the four-step inquiry process.
The comprehensive education and career/life planning program can be imple- mented in a variety of ways, to ensure that all students in Kindergarten to Grade 12 have multiple and varied opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills, to demonstrate the full range of their learning, to gather evidence of that learning
in their “All About Me” portfolio or Individual Pathways Plan, and to share their learning with teachers and parents as they plan their next steps for learning, work, and life.
5.1 Education and Career/Life Planning through Activities and Programs Related to the Curriculum
The Ontario curriculum provides students with a wide range of opportunities in and outside the classroom to practise education and career/life planning.
5.1.1 Opportunities for Learning through the Ontario Curriculum, Kindergarten to Grade 12
Early learning programs in Ontario schools encourage children to discover who they are and to reach their full potential, and so provide an underpinning for
the development of knowledge and skills related to the four areas of learning
in education and career/life planning. Children begin their personal and social development by learning not only about themselves but also about themselves in relation to others and in relation to the world. The Kindergarten classroom creates an environment where children are affirmed as individuals and as members of a diverse community of learners. The program provides opportunities for them
to discover their strengths and abilities, to inquire about things that pique their interest, and to develop their relationships with others.
The curriculum policy documents for Grades 1 to 12 support the development of the knowledge and skills related to the four areas of learning in education and career/life planning in various ways, depending on the subject or discipline. In some, relevant knowledge and skills are outlined in the overall expectations (e.g., in the elementary Language curriculum, an overall expectation requires students to “reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers ...”). In many disciplines at the secondary level, specific expectations and examples detail learning related directly to career planning (e.g., a specific expectation from a Grade 11 Construction Technology course in the technological education document reads
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