New resource guides for TOKW, November 2, 2022

Three new resource guides are now available for educators, workplaces and families for the annual Take Our Kids to Work (TOKW) day on Wednesday, November 2, 2022. While The Learning Partnership (TLP) is transitioning this annual event permanently to the Students Commission of Canada (SCC), the 2022 event will be presented jointly.

Three ways to participate

The Canada-wide TOKW program was developed in 1994 for Secondary III (Grade 9) students to experience the workplace firsthand. The 2021 theme, You Belong Here, is being continued in 2022. This year students can participate in three ways: they can spend the day at their parent’s workplace (in person or virtually); teachers can lead students through a virtual event during the school day; or students can take a virtual tour from home.

A view from the workplace

Workplace hosts are always excited about showing students what it takes to work in their sector on a day-to-day basis. In an article from a 2009 edition of The GOAL Post, a bank manager explains his motivation and enthusiasm for bringing three students from the Kahnawake Survival School into the bank for the day to demonstrate the realities of “the back-office environment” of a financial institution. He wanted “to help students become more aware of the essential skills needed for work, learning and life (click here to read more).

Minister of Education participates in TOKW

Most students job shadow in their parent’s workplace, while some are chosen for high-profile job shadowing. In a 2014 issue of The GOAL Post, you can read about a student from the Central Quebec School Board who job shadowed then Minister of Education Yves Bolduc. Another student from the English Montreal School Board spent the day with a vice-president at L’Oréal (click here to read more).

Not even COVID-19 could halt the TOKW program

Recently, a 2020 article in The GOAL Post highlighted how TLP adapted to an online platform to keep students safe during the early days of COVID-19. Following a pre-recorded event were four breakout sessions covering four different sectors (click here to read more).

Transitioning to the SCC

Earlier this year TLP found partners to whom they could transition their key programs as they wrapped up their operations. The TOKW found a new home with the SCC. In 2000 the SCC was awarded the designation of Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement, which focuses on generating and sharing knowledge of best practices in youth engagement (go to the SCC website to learn more).

Partners uniquely positioned to deliver

TLP president and CEO Debra Kerby wrote in a recent update that they chose to transition “key programs to new partners that are uniquely positioned to deliver these programs nationwide over the long term and to wind-down the organization.”

• Investigate! Invent! Innovate!(Grades 1-8) has been moved to Let’s Talk Science.
• Coding Quest is now the responsibility of
• Welcome to Kindergarten is under the aegis of Canadian Education Warehouse.

The article New Homes for The Learning Partnership’s Core Programs with Innovative National Organizations provides the details (click here to read the article).

The Learning Partnership’s legacy

As we bid farewell to TLP, we thank them for almost 40 years of supporting publicly-funded education in Canada by providing experiential learning opportunities for students across the country and for providing programs in both English and French.

By Marsha Gouett and The GOAL Post Editor