Co-Operative Education

Cooperative Education and Experiential Learning programs at O'Gorman High School offer students an excellent way of expanding their interests and exploring their career options. By integrating classroom learning with practical experience in the workplace students are better prepared to make the transition from high school to work, apprenticeship programs, college and/or university.

A student’s co-op program consists of the cooperative education course, which is monitored by a cooperative education teacher, and the related curriculum course (that is, a course in any discipline, such as business studies, mathematics, or technological education). Every student in a co-op program must have a Personalized Placement Learning Plan (P.P.L.P.), which shows how the student’s related curriculum course is being applied at his or her co-op placement (Ministry of Education, 2006).

The cooperative education course consists of a classroom component and a placement component. The classroom component includes 15 to 20 hours of pre-placement instruction, which prepares students for the workplace and includes instruction in areas of key importance such as health and safety, and classroom sessions held at various times during and after the placement, which provide opportunities for students to reflect on and reinforce their learning in the workplace (Ministry of Education, 2006).