Rationale

Today’s graduates must be able to adapt to ongoing change in many aspects of their lives. For most people, career-life planning will not be a matter of making one major decision and living with it for a lifetime. Instead, purposeful career-life development, where students learn how to set personally meaningful goals, recognize and cultivate relevant opportunities and supportive relationships, and continually re-evaluate and revise their plans, is a requirement for educated citizens in an ever-changing world.

Educated citizens are lifelong learners who continually build on their self-awareness about evolving interests and strengths, and who are able to use this personal knowledge to inform their career-life choices with flexibility as opportunities and challenges arise. Career Education fosters the development of the confidence, knowledge, and competencies necessary to succeed in personal, educational, and workplace contexts throughout life.

From Kindergarten to graduation, the Career Education curriculum offers students many opportunities to explore and develop personal interests, strengths, and competencies while making connections with experiential learning, career-life possibilities, and preferred post-graduation opportunities. Under the guidance of their teachers, students discover that career-life development with intent is not simply figuring out what they want to be when they grow up, but a lifelong journey of being and becoming who they want to be in the world and how they can make meaningful contributions in their communities.

Career Education includes reflection on learning experiences both in school and out of school, and facilitates connections with communities and networks to support personal career-life interests and goals. The Career Education curriculum aligns with the First Peoples Principles of Learning, highlighting a holistic view of students placed at the centre of their learning, and recognizing the importance of experiential learning, guidance from mentors, and community involvement.

Goals

The Career Education curriculum contributes to students’ development as educated citizens through the achievement of the following goals. Students are expected to:

• recognize the need to be adaptable, resilient, and flexible in order to meet the ever-changing opportunities and challenges of today’s world
• understand how ongoing purposeful career-life development contributes to the success and well-being of individuals, communities, and society
• build personal career-life development capacity to effectively learn and grow new interests, knowledge, skills, and competencies throughout their lives
• develop awareness of their personal strengths, competencies, values, and passions, and use this self-knowledge to inform career-life choices
• communicate and interact collaboratively with others, valuing the diversity of people, perspectives, worldviews, ideas, and opportunities
• explore a range of experiences, roles, and opportunities in personal, educational, and workplace contexts to advance their personal career-life journeys

Assessment

The Career Education curriculum for grades 8 & 9 is meant to build self-awareness about evolving interests and strengths, and inform potential career-life choices. At McRoberts, this awareness is fostered throughout all regular classes. 

We supplement this learning through various keynote presentations on relevant topics. To further develop personal interests and connect to the school community, we require Grade 8 students to contribute a minimum of 5 hours to school clubs, sports or service. Our Grade 9 students are required to provide a minimum of 10 hours of service (5 hours of which must be school-based service and the remainder can be service to the community). Please note that these hours are NOT the same as school service award applications, which require a separate form. 

Participation in keynote presentations and completion of hour requirements, along with required reflections provide the basis for Career Education grades. Career Education grades will be communicated on the last report card of the year.