OSCA Conference Participation registration now open!! For more information, please visit www.osca.ca.  

Why you should be involved as an Exhibitor:
The Ontario School Counsellors'' Association invites you to join Guidance Counsellors, Student Success teachers, administrators, educators and stakeholders in Guidance and Career Education for OSCA's annual conference. You will not want to miss the opportunity to network and exhibit with over 500 delegates at this year''s OSCA conference.
By supporting this conference as an exhibitor, you and your organization are directly contributing to the advancement of education in Ontario.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION: Friday, September 24th, 2021

• Download the Conference Exhibitor Package
• 2021 OSCA Conference Exhibitor Registration Google Form
• Exhibitor payment link

 
The Study and Go Abroad Virtual Fair offers your students an exciting opportunity to meet with universities from Canada and around the world to learn about degree, certificate and diploma programs, admission requirements, and scholarships, as well as attend webinars. New for Fall, we are offering a dedicated Counsellor Hour from 2-3pm to give you an opportunity to connect with universities. Admission is FREE.

Fair hours: 3pm to 9pm EST
Counsellor Hour: 2pm to 3pm EST

Check the website www.studyandgoabroad.com for the exhibitors'' list, webinar schedule and to pre-register for free.

 

Wednesday, September 22
11 am - 12 pm

We look forward to bringing you curated programming throughout the school year ahead! For our first event of the year, we invite you to join us online to hear from Dr. Diana Brecher, Scholar-in Residence, Positive Psychology for the ThriveRU initiative in Ryerson Student Affairs along with two current students who have completed the Thriving in Action program.

Are you considering options for your future? Join us for a live session to learn about why a university degree might be right for you! Tune in to explore the possibilities and opportunities that a university degree presents, including those available at Ryerson.

Event runs Wednesday, September 22, 7 - 8 p.m.

We are pleased to invite you to a free, virtual Guidance Dialogues event on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, from 9:00 am-12:30 pm.
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Nous sommes heureux de vous inviter à une séance virtuelle gratuite des Dialogues pour conseillères et conseillers, le mercredi 20 octobre 2021, de 9 h 00 à 12 h 30.

Ontario's universities are excited to host the Ontario Universities’ Fairs (OUFs) this fall. The OUFs will consist of 2 virtual events:
- Saturday, September 25, 12-2 pm (ET)
- Tuesday, October 26, 5-7 pm (ET)

All Ontario universities will participate in these free events and anyone can attend – pre-registration is not required.
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Les universités de l’Ontario sont heureuses de présenter, cet automne, les Foires des universités de l’Ontario (FUO). Les FUO comprendront 2 événements virtuels:

- Samedi 25 septembre, de midi à 14 h (HE)
- Mardi 26 octobre, de 17 h à 19 h (HE)

Toutes les universités de l’Ontario prendront part à ces événements gratuits, et tout le monde peut y participer – aucune préinscription n’est exigée.

As a reminder, all OSCA/ACOSO Subscriptions will expire on September 30, 2021.  Fees have been lowered for 2021-2022 school year, compared to pre-COVID fees:

Subscription Categories

Statutory:  $50 ($75 past years)

Associate:  $40

Retired: $25

Pre-service student: $25

AQ student: $25

Please read the descriptions for each category when you are renewing, so that you have selected the correct category.

As an incentive, any person who renews by Sept. 30th, will be able to attend the fall virtual conference OSCA-ACOSO Forward21: Moving From Chaos to Opportunity, at NO charge. This is a COVID special for this year only! Renew now, so that in the fall you will continue to receive the OSCA News to keep up-to-date on guidance news and the professional magazine, OSCA Today, three times per year. Encourage your guidance colleagues to join as well by visiting  www.osca.ca.
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Pour rappel, tous les abonnements OSCA/ACOSO expireront le 30 septembre 2021. Les frais ont été réduits pour l'année scolaire 2021-2022, par rapport aux frais d'avant covid :

Catégories d'abonnement

Statutaire : 50 $ (75 $ les années précédentes)

Associé : 40 $

Retraité : 25 $

Étudiant en formation initiale : 25 $

Étudiant AQ : 25 $

Veuillez lire les descriptions de chaque catégorie lorsque vous renouvelez, afin d'avoir sélectionné la bonne catégorie.

À titre incitatif, toute personne qui renouvellera avant le 30 septembre pourra assister à la conférence virtuelle d'automne OSCA-ACOSO Forward21: Moving From Chaos to Opportunity, SANS frais. Ceci est un spécial covid pour cette année seulement! Renouvelez maintenant, de sorte qu'à l'automne, vous continuerez à recevoir les nouvelles de l'OSCA pour vous tenir au courant de l'actualité de l'orientation et du magazine professionnel, OSCA Today, trois fois par an. Encouragez vos collègues d'orientation à adhérer également en visitant www.osca.ca.

OSCA will be offering the AQ course this fall. Taught by a current guidance counsellor, through an interactive, online classroom. Cost is $650 and includes a one-year new subscription to OSCA ( if one does not currently have one), a copy of ethical guidelines and there is NO textbook. To register, please go to www.osca.ca

Register here!

Application-based funding will be available to support school boards to subsidize Guidance and
Career Education additional qualification (AQ) courses for eligible teachers that are registered
with the Ontario College of Teachers and self-identify as Black, Indigenous or racialized and
complete one of the following:
• Guidance and Career Education – Part 1
• Guidance and Career Education – Part 2
• Guidance and Career Education Specialist

A new report from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario is reiterating what people with disabilities have been saying for years: job opportunities are slim, and the opportunity gap between disabled students and their peers that starts immediately after graduation is growing too large.

It’s perhaps not surprising information, says Ken Chatoor, senior researcher at HEQCO and author of the study, but it is a "sobering" reminder.

The report looked at data from postsecondary students in Ontario, using two self-reported data sets from 2016 Statistics Canada surveys. Mr. Chatoor studied the credentials attained by students with disabilities at postsecondary institutions, the students’ experiences at their college or university, and the labour market outcomes after graduation.

He found that disabled students were less likely to attend postsecondary school, and less likely to attain higher degrees. When new graduates hit the job market, they will have a more difficult time finding a job and will be less satisfied with their salary and benefits than their non-disabled peers.

This mixed method research project investigated the impact and utility of online discussion forums (ODFs) hosted by the The Open University (UK) Careers and Employability Services in supporting the career identity, learning and development of Open University students. Despite a substantial evidence base underpinning the use of ODFs within online learning environments for pedagogical applications there is a paucity of scholarly activity linking student participation within ODFs for specific career learning and career development purposes. In addressing this gap, this novel research draws upon influential career theory relating to career learning and career identity to situate student and staff perceptions of careers focussed ODFs and their impact. To achieve this the interactions of higher education students were analysed within six selected ODFs whilst more in-depth insights were captured through student questionnaires and staff interviews. The findings of this study demonstrate the wide-ranging benefits of ODFs for the growth of career identity and learning, and also as a space where critical community inquiry can occur, contributing to deeper approaches to learning for participants.

As Shakespeare put it in Romeo and Juliet, "What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." So it is with job titles.

A job is more than just the label that the company chooses to assign to it. There’s a reason we coach students to deconstruct job postings: their applications need to match the skills, education and experience needed for success in the tasks of the job. It’s never just about what the job title is; we have to dig deeper.

Recently, however, multiple students I’ve met through my work in the Douglas College Career Centre seem hesitant to take a job – or even apply for one – just because of the job title. It was too vague. Too high. Too low. And I ask them: too high or too low on which scale?