CONT613: Guidance and Career Education Specialist
In this course, you will use a critical eye to examine professional knowledge on topics such as current legislation, policies and ethical standards, school culture, critical practice, program planning and implementation, collaboration, mental health and well-being, and pathways and destinations. Throughout the course, you will have opportunities to explore what it means to create and cultivate inclusive learning environments and to engage in critical reflection and inquiry-based learning to make connections and develop your view of leadership. You will refine your current knowledge and practices, create a new understanding of yourselves as leaders, and apply the concept of leadership to roles within the Guidance and Career Education umbrella.
Your work will culminate in a leadership project in which you’ll develop an implementation plan for the Individual Pathways Plan within a school environment. This project will require you to work collaboratively, research, gain new knowledge, inquire and develop tasks that allow for the strengths, interests and needs of all learners to be represented.
Learning Outcomes
What You Will Learn and Do
By the end of this course, you will be able to
- understand and interpret the current legislation, policies and ethical standards as they relate to Guidance and Career Education
- critically reflect on and relate your experiences to issues of diversity, bias, power and privilege in education
- critically examine and apply counselling theory and current pedagogy as it relates to Guidance and Career Education
- identify and evaluate your own counselling style
- evaluate your strengths, identify your professional practice needs, and plan next steps in your professional development
- investigate your current program planning and implementation of the Guidance and Career Education curriculum and the Creating Pathways to Success document
- identify gaps in programming and create innovative, engaging and inclusive learning experiences for students using Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Differentiated Instruction (DI) and technology tools as appropriate
- leverage the power of professional learning communities, leadership skills and mentoring
- propose and construct opportunities for a whole-school approach to implementation of the Guidance and Career Education curriculum and Individual Pathway Planning
- apply strategies to support adolescents’ mental health and well-being
- identify resources within schools and communities to maximize access to support for students and families
- analyze career planning tools and implement strategies for student exploration of pathway and destination options, leveraging labour market trends and highlighting transferable and employability skills
Assessments
Module 1
Introductions and Professional Learning
Module 2
School Culture
Progress Update 1
Module 3
Critical Practice
Module 4
Program Planning and Implementation
Progress Update 2
Module 5
Collaboration
Module 6
Mental Health and Well-Being
Progress Update 3
Module 7
Pathways and Destinations
Module 8
Course Culminating Activity: Leadership Project
Final Report