A cooperative education system should be neither elitist nor inferior. It should be offered as an accredited program, integrated into the curriculum for everyone in the last 2 years of high school. This will present a challenge, but we strongly believe that Canada cannot wait any longer, wasting human resource potential as it does so.

We are confident that a cooperative education system is an excellent way to enhance employability of individuals, provided that it has more structure, is accessible to all students, and gives adequate support to all those with specific needs, especially students belonging to the equity groups.

We have reviewed the current state of both secondary and post-secondary cooperative education. Because the system works fairly well at the post-secondary level, we focused on improving cooperative education at the secondary level, believing that more attention should be given to those leaving high school and entering the job market without adequate preparation.

Some benefits of cooperative education include:

• providing an opportunity to practice employable skills and attitudes;
• allowing experimentation with nontraditional occupations;
• exposing employers to emerging workforce diversity;
• expanding students' contacts, networks, and references;
• providing information about work organization, structure, communication and
• management styles, and personnel roles;
• providing an opportunity to acquire transferable skills and increase self-esteem.
  
  
  

A multi way partnership

Cooperative education should be viewed as a multiple partnership, requiring commitment from institutions, individuals, and communities. Partnerships must be sustained through processes and structures. Mechanisms must be put in place to ensure an ongoing relation between education providers and other stakeholders.