• An increasing number of students have deviated from the linear traditional pathways of high school/PSE to work;
• In Canada, there is a lack of support for youth prior to and during this transitions stage;
• In Canada, career services, which are vital to preparing youth to enter the labour market, are inconsistent, not known or rarely used;
• The decentralized approach to school-to-work programming in Canada is less successful when compared to other OECD countries;
• There is a lack of viable education options such as Vocational Education and Training (VET) which have certifications or credentials that are recognized by employers.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of school-to-work programs and practices in Canada. Provincial governments, intergovernmental bodies (such as the Forum of Labour Market Ministers and Council of Ministers of Education, Canada) and federal departments have made reference to supporting school-to-work transitions in policy documents, but there is no centralized strategy in Canada. The programs, polices and practices highlighted in the inventory speak to the range and quality of programming that exists, but the inventory also illustrates the decentralized and vulnerable nature of this programming.

When examining what makes for successful school-to-work initiatives, there were 12 key elements that were synthesized from the literature:

1. 1. Highly visible and well-organized transition pathways;
2. 2. A strategic framework and vision;
3. 3. Consultations and involvement of key stakeholders;
4. 4. Techniques to address attitudes of parents, teachers, employers and students towards different pathways other than university;
5. 5. Involvement of employer and labour as key partners;
6. 6. Governments at all levels who provide commitment and leadership; 7. Financial viability and sustainability;
7. 8. Career development (counselling, information and education) integrated into the curriculum and made visible to support better students access;
8. 9. Occupational learning connected with academic learning;
9. 10. Professional development and occupation awareness for educators
10. 11. Partnerships and articulation between high school and PSE; and
11. 12. Solid bridging and mobility between vocational training, apprenticeships and PSE.

The inventory contains 44 entries and consists of school-to-work measures for school-leavers (including youth at-risk) and for those graduating from high school or post-secondary education.

All of the initiatives were reviewed and categorized as promising, effective or innovative. The delineation of these categories was as follows:

• Innovative practices as those which differ from other approaches in order to achieve their objectives more effectively, more efficiently, more quickly, on a wider scale, or on a more sustainable basis.
• Effective practices as those which have evidence, through formal/quantitative evaluations or assessments, that they reliably achieve their objectives. These may include long-standing practices which have proven their worth over time, even though they may not be termed ‘innovative.’