The global social justice movement for Black Lives has amplified the need for systems around the world to acknowledge the ways in which Anti-Black Racism in its many forms impacts the health and well-being of people of African descent/heritage; this includes the education system. Black students’ academic achievement is not only contingent on having access to quality education, but also feeling seen, heard and valued in their school environment. School counsellors play a pivotal role in supporting Black students’ sense of connectedness to their school community, and in setting students up for academic and professional success beyond their elementary and secondary school experiences. By attending the webinars, participants will engage in a series of scaffolded learning related to anti-Black racism in alignment with Dr. George Sefa Dei’s 10 Guiding Principles of Anti-Racism Education with an emphasis on disrupting marginalizing practices within guidance. This series will be of interest to any professionals working with Black youth in education or community settings.

 

The OSCA Board of Directors needs you to ensure the ongoing work of the association. We will ask you, OSCA members, to vote on the following motion during our AGM on December 5, 2020 through a Google Form. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the motion, please forward to the Governance Committee care of Marie Moftah, zoologyalex@gmail.com, or Kim Enns-Hildebrand, ennshik@gmail.com, by Wednesday December 2, 2020.

MOTION:

To change the qualifications required for applying to the Board of Directors:

As a Director to be as follows: have achieved at least Part 1 - Guidance and Career Education and at least one year of experience in an active role in Guidance and Career Education.

For a Board of Directors Executive position, the candidate must have Guidance Specialist qualifications plus currently be working in Guidance and Career Education.  

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:

The OSCA/ACOSO Board of Directors Needs You! 

Are you a person who wants to be involved in the future of guidance in Ontario? Perhaps you are a person who likes volunteerism and teamwork. Please consider becoming a member of the OSCA/ACOSO Board of Directors for 2021-2022. Several of the board members have terms that expire this year which means that there are several positions available for new members. For more information please visit our website. You will also need to attend the AGM on Saturday, December 5 at 10 am.

We are recruiting educators who directly or indirectly support Latinx or Black children/youth navigate Ontario’s education system. The study is being carried out by researchers from @Ryersonu and @Yorkuniversity.

We are looking for participants who:
- Work or have worked within Ontario’s education system (e.g. teachers, principals, guidance counsellors, school social workers, school settlement workers, education assistants, and English as a Second Language teachers).
- Work or have worked directly or indirectly with Latinx or Black children/youth (e.g. of Salvadorean, Honduran, Nicaraguan, Guatemalan, Dominica, Jamaican, or Trinidadian descent).

A $30.00 honorarium will be provided to participants in appreciation for their time.

Participation is voluntary and confidential. The goal of the study is to improve our understanding of how practices in the education system impact the protection of children and youth rights. This is not an evaluation of your organization or individual work.

If you or anyone you know might be interested, please visit our website www.rcypartnership.org

***This study has been reviewed by the Research Ethics Boards at Ryerson University (REB protocol number 2018-200) and York University. This study is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

 

November 16-20

This is an event you won't want to miss. We've lined up two weeks of live, virtual programming, designed to help you learn more about the programs you're interested in, explore our campus, meet our community and experience all we have to offer - from home. Live chats will also be available during each live session, to answer all of your questions about Ryerson University. 

Register today and check out our virtual showcase to explore full session details, videos and more! 

Over the fall semester, join us online to hear from Ryerson community members delivering content across a range of topics. Tune in for mock-lecture, professional development opportunities and more!

Thursday, November 26, 2 pm - 3 pm
Tuesday, December 8, 2 pm - 3 pm
Further details including registration can be found at the link below - we look forward to seeing you online!

An accessible, content-rich and value-packed opportunity for Canada’s career development communities to convene, share and learn. Over 150 sessions on Supporting clients through the pandemic, Effective counselling & facilitation techniques, Career assessments, Labour market information, Working with diverse populations, Mental health & resilience, Youth employment, Talent management & leadership development, Online tools & technologies, Workforce & community economic development.
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Une occasion accessible, riche en contenu et en valeur aux communautés spécialisées en développement de carrière du Canada pour qu’elles puissent se réunir, échanger et apprendre. Plus de 150 séances de formation : Soutien des clients pendant la pandémie, Counseling efficace et techniques d’animation, Information sur le marché du travail, Évaluation relative à la carrière, Travail avec des populations et clientèles variées, Santé mentale et résilience, Emploi des jeunes, Gestion du talent et développement du leadership, Outils et technologies numériques, Main-d’œuvre et développement économique communautaire.

CareerWise Weekly aims to keep you current, enrich your work and save you time by sending you the best of the CareerWise site each week. CareerWise is a program of CERIC funded through a grant from The Counselling Foundation of Canada.

These three (3) Designing The Learning Modules focus on the courses CHC2D (Canadian History since World War 1 Academic), CHC2P (Canadian History since World War 1 Applied) and CHV2O (Civics and Citizenship Open). Each are imbued with First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) content, with a particular emphasis on FNMI veterans and their contributions. It is also critical to note that these modules combine the wisest of practices from Secondary: Canadian and World Studies and Secondary: First Nations, Métis and Inuit Studies at EduGAINS.
These unique modules are the result of a commitment from the Ontario Native Education Counselling Association (ONECA) and the Ministry of Education to further the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and also honour the Parry Island Hero Project (i.e. World War Commemoration to honour Francis Pegahmagabow and other FNMI war veterans).

We’ve launched two rebranded and updated bilingual websites for elementary educators/teachers with collections of high-quality classroom mental health practices. They're designed to help educators/teachers enhance students' social-emotional learning skills and well-being. The practices are presented in the six categories of social-emotional learning skills:
- Stress management and coping
- Identification and management of emotions
- Positive motivation and perseverance
- Healthy relationship skills
- Self-awareness and sense of identity
- Critical and creative thinking (executive functioning)

These are the same categories from Strand A: Social-Emotional Learning Skills of Ontario's Health and Physical Education Curriculum. The practices are easy-to-implement and can be used as part of the school day, including online learning.

Secondary school versions will be available soon.

With back to school looking different for everyone this year, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection is offering support with free, easy to access resources. Whether you would like our education team to remotely deliver personal safety presentations to your class, need digital resources for online learning, or are looking for online safety information, we’re here to help.

Date: Monday, November 23, 2020, 12 pm - 1 pm ET (check your time zone)

Presenters: Reuben Ford and Audrey Appiah, Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC)

Cost: Free

This free webinar offers you the opportunity to further key learnings based on the new research done by SRDC and funded by CERIC on The Role of Career Education on Students’ Education Choices and Postsecondary Outcomes. The webinar will be led by members of the research project team.

While Canada is an international leader on many indicators of K-12 education performance and has among the highest rates of post-secondary education attainment of all OECD countries, it still has a significant proportion of youth who leave the formal education system ill-equipped for their transition to the world of work.

The webinar will share key learnings from research based on 10 years of tracking data on 7,000 high school students’ lives to answer questions about when, where and how youth initiate and craft their career aspirations. We will discuss and reflect on a few important questions, such as: What can we do to ensure students from lower-income families leave high school having engaged with the question of who they want to become? Who influences their career aspirations most over time? And what approaches help youth align post-secondary program choices with their occupational outcomes?

 

Highlights include:

LANDSCAPE ONTARIO CONGRESS- 2021
The Ontario government is currently not permitting in-person events over 50 people. With over 15,000 people at Congress 2020, we can't realistically hold an in-person event of comparable magnitude. We are excited to be hosting Congress Connect a virtual experience on January 12-14.

EDUCATOR RESOURCES
Green Careers Canada has a number of resources to help educators and students at the secondary and
post-secondary level. Click on each topic to view and utilize these resources!

DESIGN CHALLENGE RESOURCES
Are you interested in doing a design project with your students this year? The Come Alive Outside Design Challenge has created some Site Analysis resources that you can modify and use for your school! Use them online or in person.

BUILD A DREAM
#DreamBig Virtual Career Discovery Expo is designed for young women in grades 7-12! Learn more about careers in skilled trades, science, technology, engineering, math, emergency services, and entrepreneurship!

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY
Landscape Ontario and HEA would like to know if you are looking for horticulture and landscaping professional development opportunities this year. Please click here to read about the Interlocking Concrete Paver Institute (ICPI) professional development opportunity and let us know your preferences for professional development opportunities this year by completing this short survey.
*If you have already completed this survey, thank you, you do not need to complete it again

NEW ENTRANT WORKER CERTIFICATE TRAINING PROGRAM (WINTER 2021)
Do you have students looking for work? The GROW program is designed to close the gap on in-demand jobs/talent requirements identified by employers. The program will provide a four-week basic technical and employment skills training program, serving employers in the Toronto, Hamilton, Kawartha/Muskoka regions with 150 entry-level workers who aspire to enter into a promising career in the landscape and horticulture profession. The program is intended to attract youth, newcomers, adults, women etc., and provide training and employment opportunities to job seekers who may have experienced labour market challenges. It is anticipated that the winter cohort of new workers will be ready to work in April 2021. Sign up now for an information session to learn more about the program! 

Read the full newsletter here!

This week’s guest is Sean Karoonian, Founder and CEO at TRUENORTH, a residential & commercial real estate design & construction company. He is a also Program Advisor and Professor at Seneca College, and consults leading global entertainment and gaming & esports organizations.

As a Public Speaker, Lecturer, and former Head of Marketing & Client Services for Cineplex’s Gaming & Esports division - Sean will tell you to "be sincere in the way you live and talk because there is nothing wrong with being forthright & candid - where he encourages people to never be afraid to stand up and speak their truth for fear of judgement.

The CCGSD has been working to improve our online learning for youth across Canada in accordance with the health guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our Ontario Forums program has worked to create Lunch and Learn Livestreams on our Facebook Page. Here, we present our favourite workshops and viewers can drop in, watch, comment, and interact with us live! We've presented youth-focused workshops such as Gender & Sexuality 101, Intersecting Identities, Introduction to Anti-Oppression, and Queer History!

The Ontario School Counsellors' Association has a long-standing tradition (over 40 years) of recognizing and awarding those who stand out in the field of Guidance and Career Education. OSCA recognizes individuals and/or organizations that have made a significant contribution to Guidance and Career Education in Ontario. We can say with confidence that our past award winners have helped thousands find their pathways to successful futures! OSCA's awards are an excellent way of recognizing your most dedicated peers.

Fall Session: Tuesday, October 13, 2020 -to- Tuesday, December 15, 2020 
Register for the Fall Session here!

Winter Session: Monday, January 11, 2021 -to- Monday, March 8, 2021  
Register for the Winter Session here!

Cost: $650

Over 62 nominations were received. Thank you all for your meaningful and moving contributions. The Governance Committee has completed their voting process, and the nominees listed below received an email letting them know they won the awards.

One thing is clear: Our students are strong and resilient, hard-working and determined. Some of the nominations were difficult to read, as stories of hardship and perseverance were shared with us. If we could, we would have selected them all.

The recipients of the 2020 OSCA-ACOSO Anthony Di Lena Student Pathway Awards are:

Rosemary Cameros Arbizu: University Pathway
Anusha Nimalaranjan: College Pathway
Maggie Benusik: Apprenticeship Pathway
Jackie Mitsima: Workplace Pathway