South East Cornerstone Public School Division’s high schools could be offering a new class in the next academic year.
Aaron Hiske, the division’s curriculum co-ordinator spoke to the Cornerstone board members during their April 21 public board session, regarding the potential for adding a Level 5 power engineering course to the high school curriculum in the next school year.
The course would dovetail nicely with the advanced power engineering program offered at the Southeast College campus in Estevan.
Power Engineering 20 and 30, a two-year program would be a good fit for the region, said Hiske, who noted that employment opportunities remain solid for power engineers due to the presence of corporations like SaskPower and others involved in the mining and oil industries.
The Prairie South School Division would deliver the course online, starting with the pilot project after getting the course development plan approved and a pilot project ensured by three schools.
Even by needing to use a mobile laboratory for schools that might not be equipped to handle all that the course entailed, Hiske said the cost factor would be negligible.
The course, he said, “would use SaskPower-built mobile training laboratories that only need a garden hose hookup capability in and a similar capability for outflow,” to accommodate the mobile unit.
The potential power engineers would be offered a total of 12 seats in the high schools which could send them on their way to get a classified ticket as a power engineer. He said there are between 3,000 and 5,000 power engineering jobs in Saskatchewan alone and soon many of those jobs will have to be filled due to an expected flood of retirees within the next few years.
The course will be a combination of 45 to 50 hours of classroom work and an equal amount of time spent with hands-on experience. Initially the classes will be offered in Estevan, Weyburn and Spy Hill with Prairie South School Division registering the students, providing them with the necessary information, class scheduling and responsibility for monitoring the student log books. The online work will be bolstered by a teacher who will travel with the mobile trailer that carries the laboratory.
There is a cost for the student though, since the program needs to cover all expenses and that will be $500 per student with a few additional dollars needed for certain supplies.
Teachers in the South East Cornerstone Public School Division will grade the students and provide counsellors and administrative teams along with preliminary site visits. The local division will also have a contact person for ongoing needs and students will be covered within the school division’s insurance policies.
Board chairwoman Audrey Trombley thanked Hiske for the information and the progress that has been made on this particular file with the expectation that it will be moved forward in time for the next school year.
