Cooperative Education for Autistic Students in Ontario
Direct answer
Autistic Ontario high school students can enrol in cooperative education through their school's course selection process. The co-op learning plan must reflect IEP accommodations, including the transition plan, and those accommodations must be provided in both classroom and community components. Ontario human-rights guidance includes student internships within employment protections and requires disability accommodation to the point of undue hardship.
- Co-op credits counted as compulsory OSSD credits
- Maximum 2
- Minimum placement time per co-op credit
- 110 hours
The numbers behind the answer
- 2017 CSD employment result for the profiled ASD population, ages 20 to 64
- 33% reported being employed; estimate has high sampling variability
- canada.ca
The school route, step by step
Every school support in Ontario runs through the same sequence. Here is the order the steps come in.
Ten steps · four phases
See the whole school journey before choosing your next step.
This overview shows the order of the main routes. The detailed guide below explains what happens, what parents can request, and which records to keep at each stage.
Phase 01
Prepare for school
Complete the clinical and transition work before the first school day.
Phase 02
Put supports in writing
Move from informal conversations to a documented placement and support plan.
Phase 03
Escalate when support stalls
Use the next formal route only when the school-level process has not resolved the issue.
Phase 04
Plan the next transition
Use the IEP transition plan to connect school with the path after secondary education.
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Access, Credits and Placement Hours
- Students enrol in co-op through their high school's course selection process, and all Ontario school boards with high schools offer co-op courses. Some placements have minimum age requirements, so families should confirm the available placements and requirements with the school's cooperative education teacher or guidance department.
- Each co-op credit requires at least 110 placement hours. There is no limit on the number of co-op courses a student can take, but no more than two co-op credits can be counted as compulsory credits toward the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. A cooperative education teacher must ensure that the community placement is assessed before its community component begins.
IEP and Accommodation Planning
- For a student with an IEP, the Student's Cooperative Education Learning Plan must be developed with direct reference to the IEP. Teachers must consider the student's strengths, needs, learning expectations and accommodations, including the transition plan, and the IEP accommodations must be provided in both the classroom and community components of co-op.
- Co-op planning should begin with the student's interests, strengths, needs and aspirations as recorded in the Individual Pathways Plan. The evidence supports individualized planning and accommodation; it does not support the draft's unsourced list of autism-specific placements or its named examples of job coaching, quiet spaces and gradual schedules as universal co-op entitlements.
Human Rights and Workplace Insurance
- The Ontario Human Rights Commission says employment protections include student internships and that employers must accommodate the needs of people with disabilities to the point of undue hardship. A student can communicate the need for accommodation without discussing the disability in detail. A placement decision may still turn on whether essential duties can be performed with accommodation and whether accommodation would cause undue hardship.
- For an unpaid work education or experiential learning placement, the student is considered an employee of the Ministry of Education for Workplace Safety and Insurance Act coverage once the Work Education Agreement form has been completed and the placement has begun. The coverage statement depends on those conditions and should not be described as automatic before the paperwork and placement start are complete.
Frequently asked questions
A placement should not be refused simply because the student is autistic. Ontario Human Rights Commission guidance includes student internships within employment protections and requires employers to accommodate disability-related needs to the point of undue hardship. A decision may still depend on whether the student can perform essential duties with accommodation and whether accommodation would cause undue hardship.
Ontario's accessibility guidance says a person can tell an employer about an accommodation need without discussing the disability in detail. The student should communicate the functional needs relevant to the placement so that accommodation can be planned.
The Student's Cooperative Education Learning Plan must be developed with direct reference to the IEP. Teachers must consider the IEP's strengths, needs, learning expectations, accommodations and transition plan, and identified accommodations must be provided in both classroom and community components.
There is no limit on the number of co-op courses a student can take, and each credit requires at least 110 hours. A maximum of two co-op credits can count as compulsory credits toward the Ontario Secondary School Diploma.
For Workplace Safety and Insurance Act purposes, an unpaid student in work education or experiential learning is considered an employee of the Ministry of Education once the Work Education Agreement form is completed and the placement begins.
Sources
Cooperative education co-op courses
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The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Cooperative Education, 2018
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Earning your high school diploma
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Policy Program Memorandum 76A: Workplace Safety and Insurance Coverage for Students in Work Education Programs
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Ontario Human Rights Commission
Discrimination based on disability and the duty to accommodate: information for employers
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Ontario Human Rights Commission
Policy on ableism and discrimination based on disability: legal framework
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Ontario Human Rights Commission
Human Rights at Work: meeting the accommodation needs of employees on the job
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Ontario Human Rights Commission
Human Rights at Work: more about disability-related accommodation
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Accessibility in Ontario: what you need to know
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Public Health Agency of Canada
Autism Spectrum Disorder highlights from the Canadian Survey on Disability, 2017
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Next steps
Keep going with related guidance, tools, and evidence.
Related questions
High School Transition Planning for Autistic Students in Ontario
Transition planning from high school for autistic students in Ontario. Covers IEP transition plans, ODSP, post-secondary options, and Passport funding at age 18.
Employment Rights for Autistic Adults in Ontario
Legal employment rights and workplace accommodation for autistic adults in Ontario under the Human Rights Code, ESA, and AODA.
IEP Rights for Autistic Children in Ontario
Ontario autistic children have legal rights to an Individual Education Plan (IEP). Learn what schools must provide under the Education Act and Ontario Regulation 181/98.
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