| ________________ CM . . . .
Volume VIII Number 1 . . . . September 7, 2001
Concern for and about
the environment is at an all-time high: conferences, media events, and
concerns about the safety of our food and water continually remind us
all of the need to take responsibility for the earth's future. Although
many high school students share that concern and interest, many are largely
unaware of how they can pursue a career in environmental work. This resource
package, consisting of a CD-ROM, a short video, a guidebook, and a "facilitator's
guide," produced by the Canadian Council for Human Resources in the Environmental
Industry (CCHREI), provides a variety of media through which students
can explore the many dimensions of work in the environmental sector. Organized
around five main themes (Protect, Conserve, Promote, Explore and Manage),
the guidebook provides detailed descriptions of 31 different career profiles.
The profiles are also featured in the EnviroCareers CD and the
EnviroCareers web site at http://www.cchrei.ca/ec, with enhancements
that are particularly appealing to students. The "Skills and Interests
Checklist" is interactive in the CD version, and the web version offers
links to a variety of environmental education programs at colleges, universities,
technical institutes, and CEGEP's across Canada. Both the web site and
the CD are well-designed, visually appealing, and very easy-to-navigate.
The video included in the kit is also a highly professional production,
but I question the need to include it, as the content really didn't add
anything which the print or electronic media hadn't already presented
very effectively.
Whether students explore a career using print or electronic media, the
profiles all share a consistent format: each profile presents job duties,
needed background knowledge and training, an assessment of the skills and
interests needed for the job, a list of typical employers for that job,
salary levels, and a short profile of someone who actually works in that
field. Although nearly all of the jobs profiled demand some type of
post-secondary training, university education is not always a necessity
and the training offered at technical colleges/institutes is certainly
valued. Students not planning on a university education may not consider
how they can channel interest in environmental work into interesting
employment, and this resource kit offers that information.
Also included in the kit is a "Facilitator's Guide" for teachers. It
provides fifteen complete lesson plans which link to the five main themes
described above and curricular content for courses offered in a number of
provinces. A Curricular Matrix at the end of the "Facilitator's Guide"
suggests possible course connections, but I think that teachers would have
to examine the lessons and the accompanying resources (video, CD, tabloid
and newsletter) to determine how they would incorporate them. Given that
this type of resource kit would typically be used by guidance or
school-to-work transition personnel, I'm not certain that the lessons
would necessarily be readily accessible to the teaching audience for whom
they were intended.
Available both in English and in French,
the EnviroCareers resource kit is a very useful resource for
career education: school guidance departments and school-to-work career
education programs would find it useful, as would special resource centers
housing career counseling centers and public libraries. Most students
would be able to navigate the CD quite readily on their own, and the
web site's easy interface make it easily accessible. Equally important,
teachers delivering career education programs will find the media easy-to-use,
and that's a major consideration. But more than anything else, this
resource kit presents job information in a format that is interesting
and thought provoking. As the field continues to evolve, let's hope
that CCHREI will offer updates to this package.
Highly Recommended.
Joanne Peters is a teacher-librarian at Kelvin High School in Winnipeg,
MB.
To comment on this
title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal
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