Page 32 - Creating Pathways to Success

5.1.3 Education and Career/Life Exploration Activities10
Education and career/life exploration activities give students an opportunity to connect what they learn in school with the world beyond school.
Such activities should be planned in ways that best meet the learning interests, strengths, needs, and aspirations of the students. Learning activities can be planned for the classroom (e.g., guest speakers, simulations) or for the whole school (e.g., career fairs, postsecondary opportunity fairs); or they can take place in the community (e.g., workplace visits, meetings with career mentors in their work environments).
Community partners play a critical role in supporting schools in the planning and delivery of effective, ongoing education and career/life planning programs. Schools will benefit by building on existing links with their local communities and by creating new partnerships, consistent with ministry and school board policies on partnership development.
5.1.4 Experiential Learning11
Experiential learning programs provide students with rich opportunities to see how their classroom learning applies in a workplace setting. In Kindergarten to Grade 6, teachers help students make connections between their learning in school and opportunities outside school through field trips, simulations, and authentic tasks. In Grades 7 and 8, students can deepen their understanding of a particular occupational area of interest by participating in a job-shadowing/job-twinning opportunity, which allows them to spend anywhere from half a day to several days observing an employee or a cooperative education student in a specific occupation. In secondary school, students can participate in job shadowing/job twinning
and also get hands-on experience in a particular area of interest through “work experience”, which can be a component of any course and which provides students with a learning opportunity in the workplace for a limited period of time (usually one to four weeks). They can also participate in a cooperative education program (see section 5.1.5).
Experiential learning is particularly helpful in developing self-knowledge and awareness of opportunities – two areas of learning in the education and career/life planning framework – which are critical steps that precede setting goals and making plans. Teachers support students in reflecting on their experiential learning activities and capturing their learning in their “All About Me” portfolio or Individual Pathways Plan. For information and requirements concerning experiential learning programs see Ontario Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12, section 8, and Cooperative
10. Education and career/life exploration activities and experiential learning are delivered in connection with the Ontario curriculum, but they may also be organized and delivered on a school-wide basis, as part of the school’s guidance and career education program.
11. See note 10, above.
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CREATING PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS