TIME: BLOCK 1 9:30am-10:00am (Everyday) with an additional BLOCK 6 2:10pm-3:00pm.

PURPOSE: Career and Leadership Education at Vanguard

Career Education is in its final stages of implementation for the new BC curriculum. In order to deliver relevant, meaningful, and engaging career education, we have a new delivery model for this curriculum at Vanguard Secondary.

All students are required to attend their School Connect block every morning (twice on Wednesdays BL1 and BL6) and Leadership Wednesday everything Wednesday. This time is very important for students to:

• access supports to their Primary Youth Workers.
• learn about and participate in Vanguard experiential learning events and field trips.
• work towards completing the Career Education curriculum
• to complete the Ministry of Education Graduation requirements
• to be prepared for Post-Secondary Education and Employment

HOW DOES CAREER EDUCATION WORK?

Grade 8 and 9 students are required to have a Career Education component to their learning.  They will be assessed and graded on this learning.  Students explore concepts such as identity, leadership, personal planning, and transferable skills. As students build on the foundation developed from their elementary school experiences, they begin to explore in greater depth their skills and passions, and begin to determine possible routes to their goals. Students will also begin to explore Capstone projects.

Grade 10 and 11 students will be able to earn 1 to 2 credits each semester for Career Life Education (formally Planning 10). Students will also work on Capstone projects.

Grade 12 students will be able to complete their Career Life Connections (formally Grad Transitions).  Students will also work on Capstone projects.

The Career Life Education and Career Life Connections courses are the final phase of career and life learning and focus on the experiential and applied learning that support students in determining their next steps, post-graduation. Through numerous learning experiences within and outside the classroom, students are expected to develop an integrated post-graduation plan that is connected to a CAPSTONE or culminating project, which demonstrates their learning in an area of personal interest. Ideally, the capstone or culminating project will be linked to an area that students are passionate about and anticipate they will be pursuing further education and learning and/or a career in.

It is important to note that students must have completed ALL Career Education credits (8) in order to graduate with a Dogwood Diploma.  Career Life Education is also a pre-requisite course for Work Experience.  This is a very popular course for our students intending to achieve an Adult Grad Diploma.  

Delivery of Course:

The Career Education class will be delivered and assessed through the Connect course.  In order to demonstrate the learning outcomes in a relevant and meaningful way, the Connect Teacher will ask students to:

• Complete assignments and projects
• Participate in group discussions
• Attend presentations
• Volunteer in and/or outside of school
• Participate in field trips*

*The field trips will primarily be on Wednesdays (occasionally some will fall on other days). These trips are one of the most relevant ways to deliver Career and Leadership Education.  All students are encouraged to attend these trips as the best connections to the real world are made outside of the school walls.

Assessment

Students will be assessed on the three Core Competencies. The core competencies are the intellectual, personal, and social skills that all students need to develop for success in life beyond school.  B.C. has identified three core competencies as essential for all learners:

• Communication
• Thinking
• Personal and social competency 

Core competencies are directly related to students becoming educated citizens.

We are excited be able to take Career Education beyond the traditional worksheet and video model.  We feel this combined Connect class with field trip and hands on experiences will benefit all our students.  Guiding students to successfully transition to life after high school is one of the most important jobs we have as educators.