4 minute read
Preparing students for future world of work
- Grace Still, Grade 12
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Pickering College’s Global Leadership Program (GLP) prepares students with the skills and agility to respond to whatever the future holds, including an ever-changing job landscape.
For students in Senior School, the school offers a complete business stream that integrates seamlessly with the Global Leadership Program, beginning with an introduction to business in Grade 9 and progressing through courses including economics, accounting, entrepreneurship and international business.
“Starting in Grade 9, it’s a lot of creative and innovative thinking, and a huge part of it is working in groups and realizing each other’s strengths and how to work with weaknesses,” says Ian Johnston, Senior School faculty who teaches the introduction to business course.
In addition, students are given a taste of what is to come in the later grades, delving into entrepreneurship, personal finance, and financial literacy. “We concentrate more on personal finance, but I think it’s a building block to financial planning and accounting for the higher courses, and then we focus on the functions of the different areas within a business,” Johnston says.
The culminating project for the Global Leadership Program in Grade 9, Puma’s Den, stemmed from a project that was running in the introduction to business course. Now, all Grade 9 students use the I-Think tools (developed by the Rotman School of Management) to create and prototype alternative ideas for sustainable products as part of the GLP, regardless of whether or not they are enrolled in the business course.
Building on what they have learned in Grade 9, students can then take a course in entrepreneurship which helps to further develop their presentation and communication skills. “Entrepreneurship opens their eyes to how businesses and other ventures come about and the type of people that entrepreneurs are—they are very positive people in that they are open to ideas and can recognize opportunities,” says Marc de la Bastide, Senior School faculty.
In entrepreneurship, students learn how to plan when they have an idea and get funding for it through the development of a business plan, a skill that will serve them well whether they monetize an idea themselves or invest in someone else’s business venture.
By Grade 12, students can then take their knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit to the next level in the school’s international business course.
“I think with all of the integration of the I-Think tools they come away with amazing problem-solving skills,” says Josh Armstrong, Senior School faculty. “They understand international trade, free trade and the markets and the different cultural norms in a way that they wouldn’t have, had they not taken the course and considered the ethical implications of different things you learn from other cultures while studying them in business.” There is a lot of focus on improving written and verbal communication through one-paragraph essays and presentation skills developed through collaborative video pitches, incorporating some of the media skills they learn in communications technology.
“The PC business courses have prepared me for the future by teaching me the importance of paying attention to detail, problem solving, and working collaboratively with others,” says Joseph Galeota, Grade 12. “The ladder of inference method (I-Think) is a tool that I use in multiple classes.”
Grade 12 students in international business participate in a simulation where they negotiate over a fact set, in a setting much like a union negotiating table. “They have to figure out what their position is and learn how to actually come to a negotiated conclusion to the problem,” explains Armstrong. “It’s really important in a negotiation to understand your position going in, and what you can and cannot say, because if you say the wrong thing then you give up a whole lot really quickly.” In addition, students have the opportunity to think through an international career-investment project where they examine what life would be like as a student who has graduated with a particular degree and the opportunity costs—from a business perspective—for making different decisions in life.
“The business courses not only prepare you for the business world but create fundamental skills needed for any career,” says Grace Still, Grade 12. “In international business, I was able to build my communication skills when presenting ideas, collaboration skills amongst my peers when negotiating and gaining a global perspective from working with my peers from around the world.”
Zixin (Jane) Weng, Grade 12, has her sights set on a career in business and has applied to business courses at universities in the UK and in Canada. “I would like to spend four to five years studying business (finance and economics) and get a job at an investment bank. I am also interested in financial analysis and wealth management, so perhaps I might start my career with that.”
About I-THINK
Students are living through complex realities, whether it’s COVID-19, climate change, racial injustice, the rise of social media … they need a toolbox for real-world problem solving to move through complexity and develop agency to shape a world of possibilities not yet seen, both now and in the future.
Developed by the Rotman School of Management, I-Think fosters a community of curious, generous, and relentless educators who transform student thinking with a proven, community built approach to real-world problem solving. These thinking tools are incorporated across grades and subjects, so every Pickering College student has the chance to learn advanced strategies that are used by students at the University of Toronto.
To learn more about the I-Think program, please visit www.rotmanithink.ca.
