While parents of school-age children may be concerned about a 2009 Colleges Ontario study that ranked Simcoe County District School Board a lowly 48th of 57 Ontario School Boards in terms of how many students go on to post-secondary education (PSE) directly from high school, educators at Stayner Collegiate Institute want them to know that they and others in the area are doing their best to help students beat those odds.
The study, which was discussed at a Ray’s Place meeting in January, used data collected from 2001 through 2007 and noted that “poor performance very early in secondary school predicts non-completion of an Ontario Secondary School Diploma.” At the meeting, the importance of engaging students at an early age was emphasized. Kathy Whitley, a kindergarten teacher at Creemore’s elementary school, said that educators are “reaching out too late,” proposing that students be engaged at a younger age so as to be better prepared for the transition to high school.
On that point, SCI principal Jane Seymour and vice-principal Janice Ellerby talked about the Collingwood Learning Centre, which offers a two-week Preparation Program in late August of each year for students going into Grades 7, 8 and 9. The intent of the program – registration and transportation for which is free – is to ease the transition from pPrimary to secondary school, educating students on larger world issues (this year the focus will be on social justice) and helping them to improve their numeracy skills, which Hanne Nielsen, the Centre’s principal of adult and continuing education, believes are essential for success in all disciplines.
Upon entering Grade 9, students are faced with the decision whether to enroll in the Academic or Applied stream. As is true across the province, students must obtain a particular number of Academic credits in Grades 11 and 12, as well as high enough grades, in order to register for university after graduation. But to enroll in those courses, they must first obtain credits at the Academic level in Grades 9 and 10, requiring them, at age 14 or 15, to make a decision regarding whether they intend to pursue PSE, and if so, what type.
Ellerby pointed out that, in our region, the decision whether to enter the Applied or Academic stream is not irreversible. The Collingwood Learning Centre offers a summer program for Grade 9 and 10 students who wish to learn concepts not covered in their Applied courses during the regular school year, affording them the opportunity to move to the Academic stream.
Even with that out, these are big decisions to be making at an early age, and it is essential that appropriate guidance be available, especially considering the study’s claim that “there appears to be a general lack of understanding of PSE options and entry requirements” among students.
It is suggested that this lack of understanding is due in large part to the fact that guidance counselors are “spread quite thinly across school populations in most secondary schools,” and that, as a result, “it is not realistic to expect them to provide the support and information necessary for all secondary students.”
Seymour, however, believes that the 1.2 guidance counselors (one is employed full time and another comes in for one period a day) allotted to SCI by the school board is sufficient for the approximately 440 students who attend the school.
“I don’t believe we have any students who don’t receive guidance,” said Seymour when informed of the study’s claim that students can easily “fall through the cracks of an overextended system,” adding that the S.C.I. guidance staff “does a phenomenal job helping students to move forward.”
The importance of parental influence on a student’s decision whether or not to pursue PSE is also emphasized by the study, which claims that “youth are more likely to aspire to a non-university program, or not want to pursue education after high school, if their parents did not.”
According to Nielsen, a significant number of regional parents whose children are now old enough to be considering postsecondary options were employed in the since-defunct Collingwood Shipyards. Employment in the Shipyards – which closed circa 1986 – did not require a high school diploma, enticing many to leave high school after Grade 10. The Shipyards is not the only manufacturing plant to have closed down in the area, and agriculture, our other big industry, has never required a post-secondary education either. As a result, Nielsen believes that many area students may have parents without any postsecondary experiences to share.
The 2006 Census would seem to back this theory up: while the percentage of Clearview residents with college or other non-university certificates or diplomas is higher than the provincial average (20.6 per cent and 18.4 per cent respectively), the percentage of Clearview residents with a university certificate, diploma or degree is drastically lower than the provincial average (9.3 per cent and 20.5 per cent respectively). Results of the 2011 Census are due out in the next several months, and educators will be keeping a close eye out for a change in these statistics.
The Dual Credit program offered in Ontario schools attempts to address this problem by helping students gain exposure to PSE. According to Seymour and Ellerby, this is extremely important for students whose parents did not obtain PSE.
“Many come back and say that college is where they want to be,” said Seymour. “They like the autonomy; being responsible for their own learning.”
In the program, which is intended to support student’s “successful transition to postsecondary education,” high school students also participate in apprenticeship training and college courses, earning credits that count toward “both their high school diploma and their postsecondary diploma, degree, or apprenticeship certification.”
The myblueprint.ca initiative, which was spearheaded by SCI, is also being adapted across the board, giving students access to an online database of Canadian university programs and helping them to determine the appropriate pathway for a chosen career.
“There’s always support out there,” said Ellerby. “If students have the desire, we can help them find the way.”
The question remains, though: if the necessary support is available, why is it that Simcoe County youth are not pursuing PSE directly after high school?
The study found that rural secondary school students were less likely to go on to PSE than their urban counterparts and that they tended to apply to schools that were close to home.
Nielsen noted that, in our immediate region, which does not have – save for the University Partnership Centre at Georgian College – a university campus, students who wish to obtain PSE will likely have to commute or leave home – an added expense, which, in combination with rising tuition costs, may make PSE unaffordable for many.
Indeed, in the study, many students who chose to enter the workforce directly after high school as opposed to PSE cited travel expenses as a major influence on their decision.
“If we are able to look at some kind of downtown university campus for Barrie, that might have a huge influence,” said Ellerby.