Alberta's new collegiate programs offer hands-on career experience for high-school students

Andrew Jeffrey · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 23, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Educators and students are praising provincial investments successful collegiate programs that connection hands-on acquisition successful a assortment of vocation paths.

Collegiate programs connection specialized programming to make a wide pathway for precocious schoolhouse students into post-secondary studies.

The programs, offered done some nationalist and backstage schoolhouse authorities, person support and startup backing from the state to get disconnected the crushed and are supported by post-secondary institutions arsenic good arsenic manufacture partners.

One illustration is the Southern Alberta Collegiate Institute, where seven confederate Alberta schoolhouse divisions spouse with Lethbridge Polytechnic to offer programming for precocious schoolhouse students successful trades, agriculture and wellness care.

The grooming ranges from a first-year instauration to much focused pre-employment grooming successful Grade 12 successful a circumstantial vocation path.

Jason Kupery, manager of learning with the Lethbridge-based Palliser School Division, said the collegiate programs springiness students a consciousness of intent portion uncovering a vocation way they consciousness passionate about, opening doors for their future.

"There are plentifulness of students retired determination who are incredibly intelligent, but don't privation to beryllium successful a schoolroom to larn that way," Kupery said.

"So erstwhile they're able, for instance, to participate a trades pathway, airy bulbs and each kinds of things spell on, due to the fact that they're like, 'This is what I'm bully at. I'm moving with my hands; I consciousness similar I beryllium here.'"

Alberta has funded collegiate programming since 2022, with the first programs launching in autumn 2023. There are present 12 collegiate programs approved to run astir the province.

The state has funded the collegiate programs to the tune of $101 million successful superior investments since 2022. This includes allocating $21.5 cardinal for each of the 2025-26 and 2026-27 schoolhouse years.

'I deliberation it's beneficial'

Cyra Graf, a precocious schoolhouse pupil from Taber, Alta., who's funny successful moving arsenic a parts technician, praised the effort that's gone into the program's development.

"It's a bully instauration and it truly showcases the trades and wherever you tin acceptable in, what you're bully astatine and what you're not bully at," Graf said. "I deliberation it's beneficial."

Kaden Belisle, a Grade 11 student, said helium appreciates the hands-on acquisition the programme provides arsenic helium looks to prosecute a vocation moving connected trucks and engines.

"Trying a clump of different worldly conscionable made it truthful I could fig retired what my way was and what I wanted to do," Belisle said.

Southern Alberta Collegiate Institute co-director Joelle Reynolds noted the programme besides helps students by giving them entree to talk straight to manufacture professionals.

"I grew up successful a truly tiny community, and the thought of walking into a assemblage oregon a polytechnic oregon a assemblage was precise intimidating for me," Reynolds said. "So knowing that this programme is accessible to students from crossed a wide assortment of communities is truly exciting."

Reynolds added that the programming people complements schoolroom learning by getting students retired into the satellite to spot enactment sites, speech to professionals and concern owners and larn astir what's imaginable for them.

Kupery agreed that on-the-job programming tin assistance students marque connections erstwhile it comes to however their schoolroom courses are utile successful the existent world.

"I spot these collegiate and dual-credit programs arsenic an hold of the fantastic teaching and learning that's going on," Kupery said.

"When we person kids who spell to trades programs, they tin marque connections with the mathematics and subject they're learning. It's 1 instrumentality to inquire the 'Why bash we person to larn this?' question."