"Student Success is about meeting the individual learning needs of each and every student. Schools are providing students with more opportunities to customize their high school experience and build on their strengths and interests through a variety of new and enhanced learning options." (Reach Every Student)
What is Cooperative Education?
Cooperative education is a program that allows students to earn secondary school credits while completing a work placement in the community. It allows for a unique learning opportunity for students that extends classroom learning into business, industry and the community. The opportunity to experience the workplace helps students discover their options and gather the information they need to make informed decisions about their post- secondary futures and beyond. Students increase their self-knowledge while developing valuable transferable skills and gaining an understanding of the importance of attitude, teamwork and personal management skills in the workplace.
Cooperative Education (Co-op) is a form of work experience for secondary school students that include:
- pre-placement orientation that includes job readiness, interview skills, resume writing and workplace safety
- the development of a Personalized Placement Learning Plan for each student
- monitoring and evaluation by the Teacher
- supervision and feedback by the placement supervisor
- coverage under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board by the Ministry of Education for all students
- the opportunity to begin an apprenticeship while earning secondary school credits
- the possibility of part-time employment
More information can be found from the Ministry of Education on the Co-op Fact Sheet.
How does Co-op Work?
Cooperative education courses include a classroom component, comprising pre-placement and integration activities, and a placement component. Students earn 2, 3, or 4 cooperative education credits by integrating classroom theory with planned learning experiences in the community to achieve learning based on the curriculum expectations of the related course. Placements should provide students with challenging opportunities to apply and extend their knowledge, and to practise and refine the skills acquired in the related course. In addition, students will be able to demonstrate their achievement of placement expectations that reflect current workplace practices and standards.
PRE-PLACEMENT ORIENTATION
Prior to their placements, all cooperative education students must demonstrate an understanding of a variety of topics such as: health and safety; coverage under workplace Safety and Insurance Act; and unions and collective bargaining.
INTEGRATION
The integration portion of the classroom component involves sessions with students that are held at various times throughout the course and following the placement and is designed to provide students with an opportunity to: relate placement experience with curriculum expectations; reflect and analyse their placement experiences; and reinforce job-skills theory.
PLACEMENT
Provides students with sufficient time and opportunity in a given placement for satisfactory skill development, career exploration, and personal growth.
For more information on how co-op can benefit you…
Please download our Co-op Brochure
Program Requirements and Application Process
Students are selected to these programs through an interview process conducted by co-operative education/work experience teachers in consultation with subject teachers, guidance counsellors and administrators.
Admission to co-operative education is generally offered to students earning credits in the senior division. Work experience is available to students 16 years of age and older. Prior to placement, students attend structured pre-placement orientation sessions within their schools. Students are also required to participate in scheduled "integration" sessions at the school, throughout the term. Integration activities are designed to reinforce the connections between what students learn at their placements with their related courses at school.
Students are placed in work placements which best match both the educational needs of the student and the interests of the organization. As an important member of the co-op/work experience team, the placement supervisor acts as a mentor and advisor to the student. These programs are designed to promote closer associations between students and working adults who are willing to share their knowledge. The placement supervisors provide safe working environments, appropriate learning experiences, and assist students in making the transition from school to work, apprenticeship, college or university.
Personalized Placement Learning Plan (PPLP)
The teacher monitor, student and placement supervisor develop the Personalized Placement Learning Plan. This plan identifies the curriculum expectations to be met, the tasks to be performed, and the methods of evaluation. Revision to the Personalized Placement Learning Plan may occur at any time during the work placement.