Guidance & Career Education

This area of the site provides students and their families with a variety of resources which support goal setting, transitions and pathways planning for post-secondary destinations and beyond.

Your school guidance department serves the school community by

Supporting students in academic planning and course selection
Helping students to seek out special pathways programs in secondary school that support their learning styles, interests and needs
Helping individual students to envision a plan for post-secondary and target some short and long term goals
Providing information around all post-secondary pathways (workplace, college, apprenticeship, university) and career pathways
Supporting students in establishing effective study habits and exam preparation
Coaching in the scholarship application process
Supporting students in such life skills as decision-making, problem-solving, conflict-resolution, stress & time management and relationship awareness
Providing personal counselling and referrals to community resources
Providing crisis counselling and referrals to community resources
Please call or visit the guidance department at your child's secondary school. Guidance offices are comfortable and welcoming environments for all students and families, places where you can obtain both information and support.

Researching Post-Secondary Schools, Programs, and Careers

Colleges and Universities

College and University information sites provide you with an excellent overview of what you need to know about the various colleges and universities before you begin your research of specific programs.

The Ontario College Application Services (OCAS) site is the central source of information about colleges. It includes links to maps and fair dates held in October.
The Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC) site is the central source of information about universities. It includes links to:
Common University Data Ontario (CUDO) - is an on-line information tool that offers statistics about Ontario’s universities, collected by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU).
Calendars for Ontario Universities (Undergraduate)
A link to e-INFO
Links to fair dates held in September
The Ontario Postsecondary Transfer Guide (ONTransfer) will be of interest to a college student who is thinking of transferring to a university or for a university student who is thinking of transferring to a college. This guide lists collaborative programs, articulation agreements and credit transfer between Ontario universities and colleges.

English Language Proficiency Requirements

In order to be successful in a program, your communication, listening comprehension, reading and writing skills must be at a level sufficient to meet the demands of post-secondary studies.

The Ontario College Reference Guide provides information about English language proficiency admission requirements for all Ontario Colleges in the additional information section for each of Ontario's colleges' pages. You should also check the college or university web sites for information on English Language Requirements specific to your college or university. If your first language is not English, you may be required to write an English language proficiency test as one of the requirements for admission to an Ontario college or university. The most common English proficiency test is the TOEFL - the Test of English as a Foreign Language.

Employment and Career Planning

You may choose to go directly to the workplace as your initial post-secondary destination. All jobs provide an opportunity for the development of essential skills that will help you be successful in the future.

Three of the most important steps in moving towards a successful future career are:

knowing where you want to go;
knowing who you are and what your skills and abilities are, and;
knowing where to find the jobs that are available.

This section of the site provides links to activities that will help you plan your future direction and determine your skills and abilities, and links where you can find jobs and career opportunities that are available.

In addition to your Guidance Counsellor, the following resources provide a good overview of the career planning process:

Working in Canada: http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/home-eng.do?lang=eng
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs.html
Career Cruising
Your local employment agency will have a list of local jobs, as well as other resources to help plan your future: http://www.ncds4jobs.ca/

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