DC030- Creating Opportunities through Co-op, Grade 11 Open

Cooperative education provides secondary school students with a wide range of rigorous learning opportunities connected to communities outside the school. It is designed to recognize and respond to the diversity of Ontario’s student population, and it can engage all students. In cooperative education, students learn in safe, culturally responsive environments in the community, and they are actively involved in determining what they learn, how they learn, when and where they learn, and how they demonstrate their learning. Participation in cooperative education can lead to transformational change, engaging students in unique experiences that they will remember throughout their lives. Cooperative education promotes the acquisition and refinement of skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that support education and career/life planning and fosters positive attitudes towards learning that help students become independent, lifelong learners. Cooperative education contributes substantially to a comprehensive education and career/life planning culture by focusing on:

• helping students acquire skills and knowledge related to the community experience;
• providing opportunities for students to inquire and reflect on their experiences in order to gain a greater knowledge of themselves and their opportunities and a growing understanding of how they can shape their future;
• providing personalized experiences to meet students’ particular learning and motivational needs.