Gr. 09 - 12 PLANNING

The Importance of Academic Planning:

Academic planning should not be separate from career and pathways planning. The courses and programs you choose in high school will help prepare you for your life after high school.

Five things to remember when career planning:

  • The world of work is rapidly changing

  • Employers are interested in hiring people who can demonstrate their skills and abilities (not just knowledge)

  • You will need to develop goals and strategies to make your dreams come true

  • You are in charge of your own career

  • You need to be proactive

To make wise decisions, you need to know more about yourself. Check the Planning - Post Secondary section of this website for more information about discovering your strengths, abilities, interests and how to relate these to career and pathway choices.

Choosing Courses:

When choosing high school courses you also need to look at your strengths, abilities, learning skills, work habits and learning styles. You need to ask yourself:

  • Am I working as hard as I can to understand the work being taught?

  • Can I work better and more efficiently in order to improve?

  • Do I ask for help from the teacher if I don’t understand?

  • Do I do my homework or review every night?

  • What courses do I need to take to enable me to follow my post secondary path?

  • Are these courses strengths of mine? Is it realistic for me to follow this path?

  • Do I have the prerequisite courses necessary for my course selections? (check the Planning - Course Selection section of this website for information)

Once you have an idea of what you may do after high school, you need to develop a learning plan. This plan will state your goal and the things you need to do to reach that goal – the courses you need to take, volunteer work that can help you develop skills and self-knowledge, and special programs that are available such as cooperative education or school to career programs. In Grade 10 Career Studies, students will develop a Learning Plan. Continue to use this. You may also use the flowchart to plan your courses. Make an appointment with your guidance counsellor. Use the Planning sub-pages in the navigation menu to the left for more information.