The District School Board of Niagara encourages the enhancement of the curriculum through experiential learning including job shadowing, job twinning, work experience, virtual work experience, cooperative education, school-work transition programs and the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (O.Y.A.P.) 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.
All District School Board of Niagara personnel responsible for the delivery of such programming will adhere to the regulations outlined in the Ministry of Education publication “The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Cooperative Education, 2018”.
Board personnel, with the assistance of participating businesses, will follow proper Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (W.S.I.B.) procedures and requirements as outlined in the Ministry of Education Policy Program Memorandum 76A. Coverage is provided by the Ministry of Education under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (WSIA), 1997, for students, including adult learners, who are participating in various work education programs (also referred to as experiential learning programs) where the student is considered a worker. Students participating in work education or experiential learning programs must be at least fourteen years of age.
Participating in cooperative education provides students an opportunity to learn in a safe environment in the community and allow them to be actively involved in determining what they learn, how they learn, and how they demonstrate their learning.