Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) is a Ministry-approved specialized program that allows students in grades 11 and 12 to focus their learning on a specific economic sector while meeting the requirements to graduate from high school with an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). It also assists them in the transition after graduation to apprenticeship training, college, university, or the workplace.
Pursuing a Specialist High Skills Major enables students to:
- customize their secondary school education to suit their interests and talents;
- develop specialized knowledge and skills;
- gain sector-recognized certification and career-relevant training;
- earn credits that the sector and post-secondary educational institutions recognize;
- develop essential skills and work habits documented through an Ontario Skills Passport;
- identify, explore and refine career goals and make informed decisions about their future; and,
- remain flexible, with the option to shift between pathways should their goals or plans change.
