CAREER ACADEMIES

C.C. Sweeting Senior High School has been selected as a site to establish a Career Academy.  C.C. Sweeting was selected as the first school to evolve into a Career Academy because its existing programme offerings will facilitate its transition into a Career Academy.  The Career Academy concept supports the Government's efforts to strengthen the Career & Technical Education sector in Senior Secondary Education (SSE) in order to improve labor market opportunities for high school graduates, and ensure sufficient skilled labor for The Bahamian economic and industrial development. The Career Academy seeks to address deficiencies presently observed in our existing educational structure, relative to Career and Technical Education (CTE), with a view to reduce the dropout rate and enhance the capabilities of students presently considered non-performers in the general comprehensive school environment.

The establishment of a Career Academy in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas will result in:

• Improved Graduation Rate
• Decrease in the Dropout Rate
• Increased Industry-based Training
• Expanded Employment Capacity

At present, our senior high schools do provide some exposure in Career and Technical Education (CTE), but the existing constraints have handicapped access and equity to the quality of CTE education that our students must experience if we expect to be regarded as a globally competitive nation. Additionally, the program offerings in the CTE areas are not as consistent and focused as they need to be to maximize productive potential. The centralization of such programs would allow for better funded, staffed and resourced CTE programs. The Career Academy will offer possible interventions to numerous socio-economic challenges faced in an economy and seek to provide the kinds of technical training that would lead to national workforce empowerment.

The Career Academy will also offer considerable advantages over comprehensive schools including more diverse course offerings, increased cost-efficiency resulting from economies of scale, and the opportunity to develop stronger teaching and mentoring teams. At the same time, the quality of the model schools will be enhanced by identifying international benchmarks and providing the resources needed to help schools achieve them.  Such Academies focus on competency based training, with an instructional focus on literacy and numeracy across the curriculum.
Career Academy programs prepare students for:

• National/Industry Certifications
• Advanced Technical Institutions
• College or University
• Entry into their chosen career
• Scholarship Opportunities

The Career Academy model is designed to promote the integration of a students’ required core courses, competencies and CTE training within specified program offerings. The initial component areas to be targeted are: 

• Business and Computer Studies
• Family & Consumer Sciences
• Technical Studies