Hello OSCA/ACOSO Colleagues!

OSCA is very excited to announce that subscription renewals are now open for the 2025-2026 school year!

Summer Session: July 3 to July 31

OSCA-ACOSO is pleased to announce that they will continue to offer Part 1, Part 2 and the Specialist in Guidance and Career Education Additional Qualifications courses this summer.
Additional sessions will take place in the fall and winter. Advantages of taking the course with OSCA are the instructor is a current guidance teacher-counsellor, a one year OSCA
subscription is included ($55 value if currently not active) and a downloaded copy of Ethical Guidelines ($25) is included. As part of the OSCA subscription, participants have the opportunity to attend the fall conference at a member rate, gain access to webinars throughout the year on topics related to guidance and career education, receive the weekly OSCA News to keep up to date with
guidance/career topics, and receive the triannual OSCA Today, the professional magazine of the
association.

Cost: $675 plus HST.

To register: www.osca.ca - Next AQ course

Registration closes Thursday, June 19 at 11:55 p.m. This is a FIRM deadline.  

Teaching experience forms (Part 2 and Specialist) are all due no later than Friday, June 27.

Please register early to reserve your seat!

This scholarship aims to support greater representation of equity-deserving groups in Canada's bioscience sector by awarding $10,000 to three students entering their first year of post-secondary studies who identify as either Indigenous, a person with a disability, or a newcomer to Canada.

If interested, please find both English and French versions of the promotional content in this Dropbox Folder.

To note, we will be accepting applications until June 10, 2025.

Learn more here!

The Bill 7 Award is a prestigious recognition celebrating outstanding 2SLGBTQI scholars in Ontario. Established in honour of Ontario's Bill 7 (1986), which added sexual orientation to the Ontario Human Rights Code, these awards financially support individuals in post-secondary education to uphold the equality and inclusion intended by the bill.

Purpose
Presented by the Bill 7 Award Trust, the annual ceremony honours students committed to their studies by alleviating financial burdens, helping them achieve their educational goals, and amplifying their positive influence in the community.

The Trust relies heavily on annual donations, with the awards ceremony also serving as a fundraiser for supporting scholarships. By attending or donating, supporters help sustain vital resources for marginalized communities. This year's ceremony promises inspiring stories, networking opportunities, and a chance to unite for equality. Join us in commemorating Canada's 2SLGBTQI trailblazers while empowering the next generation of change-makers.

Application Process
Application forms available: April 24, 2025
Application Deadline: August 1, 2025
Successful Recipients notified: Late September 2025
Award Ceremony: November 3, 2025

Get involved
1. Advocate for this award
2. Promote awareness on all platforms
3. Donate to uplift this worthy cause
4. Attend the awards ceremony to celebrate progress.

Together, we can continue the legacy of Bill 7 because equality is worth fighting for!

The Lincoln M. Alexander Award commemorates the legacy of Ontario’s 24th Lieutenant Governor each year by recognizing three young people who have shown strong leadership in eliminating racial discrimination.

Recipients receive a cash award of $5,000 each.

Nominations can be submitted under the following two categories:

- Student (accredited provincial secondary schools can nominate a student for this award).

- Community (a community organization or agency that works extensively around race relations can nominate someone for this award).

All nominations are reviewed and recipients are selected by an independent selection committee.

Ontario's universities are excited to connect with students, educators and supporters at virtual and in-person events this year. Save the dates for these free events and help promote them to your students.

• Ontario Universities' Fair (OUF): Toronto, September 27-28, 2025, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. Join us at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, for one of the largest educational fairs in North America.
• Ontario Universities' Regional Fairs: Ontario university representatives will travel across the province this fall, offering fair-style events. Individual event dates and locations are to be announced.

Learn more at ouevents.ca. 

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Les universités de l'Ontario ont très hâte de rencontrer des élèves, leurs supportrices et supporteurs et des éducatrices et éducateurs lors de nos événements virtuels et sur place de cette année. Prenez note des dates de ces événements gratuits et aidez-nous à les promouvoir auprès de vos élèves. 

• Foire des universités de l'Ontario (FUO) : Toronto, 27-28 septembre 2025, de 9 h 30 à 17 h, tous les jours. Soyez des nôtres dans l'édifice Sud du Palais des congrès du Toronto métropolitain, à l'occasion de l'une des plus grandes foires de l'éducation en Amérique du Nord.
• Foires régionales des universités de l'Ontario : Des représentantes et représentants des universités de l'Ontario parcourront la province cet automne et y proposeront des événements de type « foire ». Les dates et lieux des événements individuels seront annoncés plus tard. 

Pour en savoir plus, consultez le site ouevents.ca.

D’une durée de 28 mois, le Projet de formation, de démystification et d'empouvoirement pour le respect et l'inclusion des francophones 2SLGBTQIA+ en Ontario, financé par Femmes et Égalité des genres Canada (FEGC), nous permettra de recueillir des données essentielles afin de mieux comprendre les enjeux autour du respect et de l’inclusion des personnes 2SLGBTQIA+ francophones en Ontario. Ces informations précieuses serviront de base pour développer des activités et des initiatives qui contribueront à créer une société plus inclusive, accueillante et respectueuse de la diversité dans la province et qui renforceront les capacités des francophones 2SLGBTQIA+ à faire valoir leurs droits.
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The 28-month Training, Demystification and Empowerment Project for the Respect and Inclusion of 2SLGBTQIA+ Francophones in Ontario, funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), will allow us to collect essential data to better understand the issues surrounding the respect and inclusion of 2SLGBTQIA+ Francophones in Ontario. This valuable information will serve as a basis for developing activities and initiatives that will contribute to creating a more inclusive, welcoming and respectful society in the province and that will strengthen the capacity of 2SLGBTQIA+ Francophones to assert their rights.

Computing Careers & Disciplines: A Quick Guide for Prospective Students and Career Advisors - CERIC

The field of computing has evolved rapidly in recent years, and students need better information about the field and its many related careers. Data science, AI and cybersecurity have emerged as significant forces in the computing industry, with new career pathways emerging.   

The third edition of this guide (2025), produced by Mount Royal University and funded by CERIC, answers these three questions. 

• Why should you consider computing when choosing a career?
• What kind of computing jobs are out there? 
• What kind of education pathways will guide you to the computing career you desire? 

The guide outlines the seven main computing disciplines identified by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), as well as several other popular computing specializations. It explores how the disciplines relate to specific job titles and tasks, and lists sample degrees, core courses and other educational pathways.

The seven computing disciplines are: 

• Computer engineering 
• Computer science 
• Cybersecurity 
• Data science 
• Information systems 
• Information technology
• Software engineering 

The guide also touches on four other specializations: bioinformatics, network technology, game development, and artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

Additionally, the updated Computing Disciplines features more content on BIPOC professionals in tech and includes additional information on educational pathways in the North. 

The guide is designed to support prospective students, career practitioners, academic advisors, school/career counsellors and parents. It will help students understand the many educational pathways into computing careers, as well as which disciplines best suit their interests, talents, skills and abilities. The guide is also relevant to a broad demographic of Canadians exploring a career in the computing disciplines.? 

Webinar: Designing Brain Friendly Classrooms — Developing Cognitive Stamina & Combatting Shrinking Attention Spans

Join Sarah Prevette, Founder and CEO, and Sandra Nagy, Managing Director, of Future Design School for a timely and essential webinar. Leveraging the data from The Future of Education Report 2025–26, this webinar will explore the growing attention crisis in K–12 education and what educators can do to reverse it.

Drawing on the latest cognitive science, this session will dive into the causes behind shrinking attention spans and provide practical strategies for creating learning environments where focus, reflection, and resilience can flourish.

Download your copy of the Future of Education Report

Drawing on our daily field work around the globe in K-12, Higher Ed and Industry, our Future of Education Reports offer thoughtful analysis and expert insight. Dig into the key trends reshaping the education landscape and future cast your internal possibilities.

Canadian summer job postings have significantly dropped since last year — one of many signs that youth are currently grappling with the toughest labour market in decades.

Summer job advertisements on employment search engine Indeed were down 22 per cent in early May versus the same time a year ago, according to an analysis published last Thursday by Indeed economist Brendon Bernard.

Lower demand for camp counselors drove the decline in postings. But seasonal demand for other kinds of jobs, including painters, lifeguards and instructors, also dropped.

It’s boomerang season again. Or to put it another way, the time of year when adult children you imagined might be flying the nest come home instead to roost, a ritual that seems to happen earlier every year.

Though the university year isn’t formally finished yet, so many institutions are dumping written exams in favour of dissertations or online assessments (cheaper to run, apparently) that third years have started cutting their losses and their food bills by heading home not long after Easter. In a worrying number of cases, they’re leaving with no job to go to.

As career practitioners, it’s important to help our racialized clients work through the many barriers they experience in navigating their education and careers. In my last article for CERIC’s Careering magazine, I outlined several approaches to advocate for opportunities for individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. These ranged from addressing education streams racialized folks are being steered into, to partnering with organizations to address the diverse needs of clients, to standing up to racism and oppression when you see it by engaging in crucial conversations and seeking reinforcements to help support your work.

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Forms are to be submitted no later than Friday, September 12, 2025 by 4:00 p.m.

The Ontario School Counsellors’ Association has a long-standing tradition (over 40 years) of recognizing and awarding those who stand out in the field of Guidance and Career Education. OSCA recognizes individuals and/or organizations that have made a significant contribution to Guidance and Career Education in Ontario. We can say with confidence that our past award winners have helped thousands find their pathways to successful futures!