OSCA Advocacy

This past fall, OSCA provided input into the current situations facing students as they apply to colleges and universities for the 2021-2022 school year. OSCA is aware of issues affecting university/college applications. Guidance Counsellors are urged to continue to advocate for equity for all students by discussing the issues with the post-secondary institutions.

These issues include, but are not limited to:

• Some high schools are scheduled by quadmester. therefore. it appears that 6 U/M courses or prerequisite courses are not projected during this school year.
• Quadmester 1 transmission data errors; time was not allowed for schools to correct before OUAC/OCAS had access.
• Gr. 11 marks from COVID Spring 2020 are used for admissions purposes, but do not show true capabilities for students adversely affected by COVID.
• Quadmester E-learning courses are very limited, and schools with fewer offerings are forced to enroll students in full semester E-learning. Students are therefore in 3 courses during one quadmester.
  • Midterm marks show incomplete work; students will complete when they have more time in the next quadmester and have made arrangements with teachers, but marks do not reflect true ability.

At ontariocolleges.ca, we’d like to assure our college applicants and education partners that we are continuing to monitor the evolving COVID-19 situation, and are adhering to best practices and recommendations for health and safety.

This page provides the most recent information on the steps we are taking, as well as answers to common questions regarding the college application. We will continue to make updates as new information arises.

Note: For information on how Ontario’s public colleges are managing COVID-19, please refer to each college’s website. A full list of college websites can be found on our Contact the Colleges page.

We’re hiring for the following positions. Please help us promote these opportunities by sharing with your network. Thank you!

Student Engagement Coordinator
Student Equity Coordinator
Student Mental Health Literacy Coordinator

In the Framework vision for science education, students engage in active investigations to make sense of natural phenomena and analyze and build solutions to problems. Basing these investigations on justice-centered phenomena can be a powerful and rightful way to support science and engineering learning. Justice-centered investigations can open up important opportunities for students to engage in projects that support equity for communities and to see how the application of science and engineering are fundamentally entwined with political and ethical questions, dimensions, and decisions.

Canadian Parents for French (Ontario) a le plaisir de vous annoncer le lancement d'un nouveau site Web bilingue nommé SayOui.ca.
Développé par CPF Ontario, SayOui.ca s’adresse aux étudiant.e.s du secondaire et du postsecondaire qui explorent leur futur cheminement de carrière. SayOui.ca inspire et informe les jeunes à devenir enseignant.e.s de français langue seconde (FLS).
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Canadian Parents for French (Ontario) is excited to announce the launch of a new bilingual website named SayOui.ca.

Developed by CPF Ontario, the goal of SayOui.ca is to motivate secondary and post-secondary students to explore becoming a French as a Second Language (FSL) teacher.

The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) is a brief mental health screener that can be used by health professionals and researchers to reliably identify dysfunctional anxiety associated with COVID-19 and symptom severity. Higher CAS scores are associated with COVID-19 diagnosis, impairment, alcohol/drug coping, negative religious coping, extreme hopelessness, suicidal ideation as well as negative attitudes toward President Trump and Chinese products. Further research is needed to ensure that the CAS reflects the full psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as it was developed in the United States at the beginning of the pandemic.

Bettina Love wants to push American public education to the next level.

The associate professor is calling for more radical reforms to the country's educational system, which she compares to the abolitionist movement.

"I think there's an idea that white teachers can't teach black kids, and so they walk in with those perceptions," Love told Virginia Prescott on NPR's daily news talk show, On Second Thought. "And so, what we try to do in schools of education, and particularly at the University of Georgia, is to challenge them and get them to think outside of the box. You saying you love children is great, but that's not enough, particularly to teach students of color because you don't need to just love them—you need to love their culture."

Transitioning to Remote Health and Wellness Services in Post-Secondary Settings: A Case Study Approach developed by Canadian Best Practices in Higher Education provides a guide to support post-secondary Health & Wellness and Counselling Centres in their transition to providing remote health and wellbeing services to students. This guide is intended for health and mental health clinicians, healthcare administrators, and other stakeholders considering transitioning their services from more traditional models of in-person care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tiffiny Lai is the founder of Plantiful and Co., a passion project which sprouted during and because of the current global pandemic. It is both an online, social-media based plant boutique and a plant styling service that aims to "bring more life to life."

Prior to taking this pivot in her career path, she worked for the National Basketball Association for over four years. She started working on social responsibility projects for the NBA and eventually became an associate manager for merchandising and events, among other roles. She is currently working on her orthomolecular health practitioner nutrition certification.

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.

In this report, the Special Rapporteur commends the efforts made by Governments, who were under harsh pressure, to preserve human lives while facing scientific uncertainties.

The health crisis has had numerous implications in all sectors of human life, leading to an economic crisis, as well as to what must be called an education crisis. In this report, the Special Rapporteur analyses the issues she considers to be the most pressing from a human rights perspective. Acting within a human rights framework is indeed crucial to ensure that measures adopted in response to the pandemic do not jeopardize the right to education and do not increase the suffering of the most marginalized.

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