One of the most recommended and promising educational structures for curtailing youth under- and unemployment is vocational education or work-integrated-learning (WIL). WIL has been commended by researchers reporting individual outcomes and data at the societal level. International organizations have also recommended better use of interfaces like WIL to link education and work. WIL refers to educational and other interventions (based in schools, colleges, and agencies) for high school students and young adults that facilitate learning by placing them in supervised placement in the workplace for all or part of their educational program. These learning experiences include workplace mentoring, paid or unpaid work experience, instruction in workplace competencies, and cooperative education. WIL is a promising approach to bridging the relationship between at-risk youth and their educational context preventing youth from becoming NEET. In this presentation, we present an overview of the range of school-based WIL programs from two provinces of Canada, Alberta and Ontario that are purposefully intended to provide students with a range of vocational and work-related options during their compulsory schooling (high-school, aged 14-18). In our presentation we discuss the commonalities and differences between the two provinces providing an opportunity for the audience to learn how about specific features of the programs are positioned to meet the needs of youth at-risk of non-completion of high school and becoming NEET youth in Canada. We will also facilitate discussion for the audience to compare and contrast with their own systems for supporting at-risk and NEET youth through vocational and WIL school-based programing.
