The realities of the working world must permeate the regular curriculum in other areas, both to highlight the relevance of the regular curriculum and to help students understand the economic and social environment. Can the pedagogy and the teaching methods of the past still serve students in an information age? Bringing the world of work into the school system can take a variety of forms:

Bringing the world of work into the school system can take a variety of forms:

• career education course,
• exposure to workplace technology,
• workplace visits,
• introduction of female and male role models from a variety of cultures and races in
• actual work settings,
• exposure to unions,
• guest speakers from all occupations and career groups,
• career studies,
• exploratory programs,
• Junior Achievement,
• career fair or week,
• in-school career projects (Junior Enterprise),
• job shadowing,
• volunteer work,
• summer jobs, and
• cooperative education.

Most of these methods require partnership with groups or institutions that have traditionally been excluded from the schools. Career education courses provide an opportunity to bring knowledge and experience, gained from actual immersion in the world of work, into the school context.

Counsellors in secondary school should provide information on the various aspects of career education. Their role is reviewed more extensively in a later section.

Developing partnerships

Recent years have witnessed the development of partnership initiatives between business and education. Such initiatives often rest on the shoulders of visionary individuals (a school principal or a company head) without an adequate supportive framework. As the following list, adapted from A Lot to Learn, shows, partnerships can take a variety of forms.