Workplace Pathway

Job Connect, which is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, provides young people, who wish to pursue a workplace pathway, with the opportunity to gain skills and knowledge needed to find and keep a job. To find out more about Job Connect contact the local employment service agency: Job Gym https://www.jobgym.com/

When determining what to do, consider your goals, your skills and interests, your education and when you are available to work. Make sure you get information on the labour market and future opportunities for growth.

How can I get more information?

Talk to your guidance counsellor and meet with co-operative education teachers. Job Gym is one of the many useful tools to connect employers with prospective employees.

Visit these important sites:

• MyBluePrint – for workplace related information visit Niagara Catholic Virtual Learning Environment (NCVLE) – Log into your Student Account. Select Digital Tools- Select myBlueprint icon
• Canada Job Bank
• Job Gym
• Niagara Workforce Planning Board
• Niagara Region
• Ontario Youth Apprentice Program
• Employment Services Ontario
• Ontario Skills Passport

CO-OPERATIVE EDUCATION

Cooperative education promotes the acquisition and refinement of skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that support education and career/life planning and fosters positive attitudes towards learning that help students become independent, lifelong learners. Cooperative education contributes substantially to a comprehensive education and career/life planning culture by focusing on: helping students acquire skills and knowledge related to the community experience; providing opportunities for students to inquire and reflect on their experiences in order to gain a greater knowledge of themselves and their opportunities and a growing understanding of how they can shape their future and providing personalized experiences to meet students’ particular learning and motivational needs.

Participating in cooperative education can be a powerful tool for helping students to understand the value of postsecondary education and to capitalize on the possibilities and pathways available to them. Cooperative education can also support students in making meaningful community connections in the longer term, helping them to realize their potential as individuals, to participate in a highly skilled workforce, and to be active, engaged, and compassionate citizens.

Cooperative Education programs include a full-semester, half-day work placement in the community with a school-based classroom component to earn between 2-4 co-op credits. The classroom component of co-op helps students: prepare for the work placement; make connections, regularly throughout the semester, between experiences in the workplace and the learning in the subject to which the co-op credit is related; reflect on and analyze their experiences in the workplace.

The placement component of co-op provides students with the opportunity to: expand and apply the knowledge and skills learned in a school subject in a workplace setting.

Students enrolled in Co-operative Education:

• are regularly monitored and assessed by their Co-op Teacher
• are covered under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board through the Ministry of Education
• earn high school credits and valuable work experience

Please contact the Student Service Department for more information.

https://mywayto.niagaracatholic.ca/co-operative-education.html

Apprenticeship

An apprenticeship is a way for students to enter the skilled trades with a high-school to work program.

What is the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)?   

The Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP) is a School to Work program that opens the door for students to explore and work in apprenticeship occupations starting in Grade 11 or Grade 12 through the Cooperative Education program. Students have an opportunity to become registered apprentices and work towards becoming certified journey-persons in a skilled trade while completing the requirements for their Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD).

Pathways to Apprenticeship

Students may pursue apprenticeship via three different ways:

Ministry of Education Ontario: Apprenticeships
http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/employmentontario/training/

Ontario Youth Apprenticeship
http://www.oyap.com

Apprentice Search Engine the area

http://www.apprenticesearch.com/