School District No. 35

When it comes to Career Education in the Langley School District, you might think it’s solely focused on older, secondary-school aged students. After all, from participating in one of the District’s many trades and dual-credit programs, to working any number of career-centric opportunities at secondary schools – like the Walnut Grove Secondary print shop, for example – there is no shortage of choices available to students to help chart their course for the future.  

But career education actually starts much earlier, and in fact is a key component of the Langley School District’s Framework for Enhancing Student Learning. The Career Development section of the FESL (which you can read here) states as its over-arching goal that “all students will successfully transition through Langley Schools with the understanding of personal strengths and skills so they can navigate meaningful future pathways and careers for themselves.” 

And that navigation starts in the primary years. Earlier this year, for example, Wix-Brown Elementary held a Busytown event based on the popular books by author Richard Scarry, where students all learned about different jobs.  Classmates, parents/guardians, and other community members were invited to see the students working their jobs; to show off what they’d learned, the job skills in action, but also financial management, sales, marketing and more.  

“They began the project by learning about their own strengths and their own gifts, and then they were able to look at different careers, and then apply those strengths and gifts to a career path that might be the best fit for them,” said Wix-Brown principal Lori Burnham. 

“As a team, we met early in the school year and talked about the school action plan, and part of that was to build student self-awareness of their different strengths and interests.” 

Burnham added that as part of the learning, classes had guest speakers come and talk about different careers, which also gave the students a chance to ask questions to someone directly in a particular field.

Elsewhere at the elementary and middle school levels, career education is brought to the forefront through entrepreneur fairs, which many schools host each year. Students get to be creative in developing and designing a product, and then learn everything from financial literacy, business and marketing skills and more as they take their product to market – typically a school gym, which is then visited by fellow students, parents and others from the community. Each year, some of the top entrepreneurs are then invited to the I.D.E.A. Summit, which is held at the Langley Events Centre.  

The Langley Events Centre was the site of another exciting careers-related event recently, too. In mid-January, the District held a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) event at the Langley Events Centre, which gave Grade 6 girls an opportunity to collaborate with each other to problem solve, brainstorm and, in the end, design and build a small-scale model of a theme park ride using various materials, and “littleBits” Kits, which taught them how to create circuits.

“You’ll see the kids working very collaboratively…. and very creatively thinking outside the box,” said District teacher Jill Steacy.  “The statistics say that only 30% of positions in STEAM are held by women, so it’s important for our girls to see themselves in positions or careers related to science, technology, engineering and math.” 

The STEAM project – a first for the District – also fits into the District’s Framework for Enhancing Student Learning.  

 “Every school, in its (School Action Plan for Learning), has targeted actions for career development, and it’s centered on two questions: ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who do I want to be in this world?’ so today is about exposing students to STEAM-related activities so they can see how they might fit,” Steacy added.  

At the secondary level, the District’s Career Education department continues the trend of future-focused learning, with a robust lineup of trades and dual-credit programs, workshops and other opportunities. Options include Automotive Service Technician, Electrical, Piping & Plumbing, Carpentry, Welding, Hairstylist, Landscape Horticulture, Professional Cook 1, as well as options such as Early Childhood Education, Intro to Health Science Program and the Biomedical Health Sciences Program. 

“I think the exciting thing about career education opportunities in the District, is it really allows students to get hands-on experience engaging in areas of interest, and helps them find out what pathway they want to pursue after high school,” said district teacher Erin Pacheco.  

This spring, the Career Education department will host a variety of info sessions for individual programs, as well as the Pathways to the Future event set for Feb. 3 at the Langley Events Centre.  

For more information on the District’s Career Education programs, visit https://www.sd35.bc.ca/careered