Ontario High School Students Now Required to Earn Technological Education credit

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Ontario Implementing a Mandatory Technological Education Credit for High School Students

 

The Ontario government is implementing a new high school graduation requirement to prepare students for fulfilling careers in the skilled trades sector. Starting with students entering Grade 9 in September 2024, all students will now be required to earn a Grade 9 or 10 Technological Education credit as part of their Ontario Secondary School Diploma.

This new learning graduation requirement will expose Ontario’s students to at least one Technological Education course. With more than 100,000 unfilled skilled trades jobs right now, it is crucial Ontario attracts more young people to pursue a fulfilling, good-paying career in the trades.

The Technological Education curriculum covers a broad range of sectors, including construction, transportation, manufacturing, computer technology, hospitality and communication. In Ontario, men make up more than 70 per cent of workers in trades-related occupations. The exposure to these career pathways as a mandatory graduation curriculum requirement will ensure more young women make the choice to pursue a career in the trades.

This new graduation requirement builds upon other actions taken by the government to bolster its Skilled Trades Strategy, including developing an accelerated Grade 11 to apprenticeship pathway for students to get into the skilled trades faster.

“Ontario is facing the largest labour shortage in a generation, which means when you have a career in the skilled trades, you have a career for life,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. “That’s why our government is taking an all-hands-on deck approach to attract and train our next generation of skilled trades workers for better jobs and bigger pay cheques for themselves and their families.”