26
Chapter 2 Understanding Work-Based Learning
Cooperative Education
Cooperative education is a school program that prepares
students for an occupation through a paid job experience. Cooperative
education programs are also called co-op programs. They team a school
with a local employer who agrees to hire a student part-time and pay
an hourly wage. The employer provides job training to help a student
prepare for a career goal.
At school, the student takes classes for approximately a half-
day to meet requirements for graduation. The student also takes a
cooperative education class. The class is taught by the coordinator
and focuses on learning how to set career goals, apply for jobs, and
manage finances. The student earns credit toward graduation for both
the cooperative education class and the work experience.
Internship
An internship is a school program providing paid or unpaid work
experience for a specified period as a way to learn about a job or an
industry. Students participate in this supervised work experience by
enrolling as they would for a class. Instead of attending a formal class,
however, the student works or volunteers at a temporary position
during or after school hours and earns credit toward graduation.
Internships are available, providing many different learning
opportunities. An internship may involve routine duties as well as specially
designed projects. As a rule, students must work for a specific number
of hours and prepare a formal report that records their experiences. The
school offering the internship establishes the requirements.
Ethical Leadership
Honesty
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be
trusted with important matters.”—Albert Einstein
Honesty involves acting truthfully and sincerely. It is always the best
policy. However, some students believe cheating on homework or a test at
school is not really being dishonest. It is just school, and everybody does it.
Cheating is dishonest no matter where it occurs. Habits are hard to break.
Once cheating is justified at school, it becomes easier to justify it in other
aspects of life.