Saskatchewan launches high school oil and gas courses to encourage students to join industry

By Brian Zinchuk

WEYBURN – Saskatchewan high school students will soon be able to take Grade 11 and 12 level classes familiarizing them with the oil and gas industry. It’s in response to a growing need to attract young people to join the oil and gas workforce.

Premier Scott Moe, Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill, and Teine Energy president and CEO Jason Denney made the announcement on June 5 on the floor of the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn.

The course will be offered online, through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre (SDLC), which recently amalgamated various online schools in the province.

Premier Scott Moe, announcing the new Oil and Gas 20 and 30 high school classes. Photo by Michelle Zinchuk

Oil and Gas 20 will be available to students starting in Semester 2 of the 2024-25 school year, followed by Oil and Gas 30 starting in the 2025-26 school year. These courses will be available to full-time online students, as well as high school students attending local schools throughout the province to supplement their in-person learning. Sask DLC registration for next school year is now open.

Moe said it was a “somewhat unique announcement for this industry, but I don’t think it’ll be unique for very long.”

He pointed out oil and gas contributes about 12 per cent to Canada’s gross domestic product, and over 400,000 jobs across the nation, contributing over $230 billion in exports to over 130 countries around the world.

“That’s what the Canadian industry, the Canadian oil and gas industry, is contributing to the health and wealth of Canadian families, Canadian communities. And I’m very excited to be here at the at … the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas show, together with Teine Energy and so many other partners and members of our governing caucus, to announce, I think, a significant step forward in training and encouraging people to be involved in this, also important industry in our province.

“First, the announcement today will respond to the needs of students and families, ensuring equal access to a wealth of online electives. This is what our Distance Learning Centre is providing to Saskatchewan families. It responds to students and families needs to access all of the education opportunities that we have, regardless of where you live. If you live in a northern community, if you live in a rural community, if you have an internet connection, you are able to access the Distance Learning Centre and explore different career pathways for while earning your high school diploma,” Moe said.

“Secondly, this enables our province to be responsive to and help us educate of the industries that are creating wealth in our communities, and provide that opportunity for our youth to participate in those industries in the years to come. And our government is committed to ensuring that our future workforce very much aligns with the needs of our of our local labor markets in our respective towns, villages, RMs and cities.”

Moe spoke of “offering students the opportunities to explore future job opportunities in and around their community, well-paying job opportunities in and around their community while they are earning their high school credits. This is an opportunity that the DLC provides to Saskatchewan residents today, and is going to further provide Saskatchewan residents upon this announcement.

“So I am pleased to announce that through a new partnership between the Sask DLC, or the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre and Teine Energy, the new oil and gas high school courses. There are new oil and gas high school courses which will be created, and which will allow students to learn about this important industry that is not only vital to our province, but is vital to the success, the financial success of our nation and is vital to the world.

“Teine Energy is generously providing $150,000 over two years to support both the development of these new online courses and to support work placement coordination for students starting next school year.

“The 20 and 30 level courses will be combined, he said. “The 20 and 30 level courses will be a combination of 50 hours of online learning through the DLC, and 50 hours of in-person work placement. And I think that is so crucial to have that work placement so that students, our next generation, can see what is generating wealth and how we are actually producing the goods and the natural resources that we are in our province.

“So the work placements are made possible because of the incredible willingness and partnership of companies like Teine, who see the value in investing in that next generation in a community in this province and in the prairie provinces.

“Students will learn about energy exploration, production and environmental stewardship in our industry, as well as different trends that are occurring in the energy industry, in the oil and gas industry,” Moe said.

“They’ll learn about safety in this industry, and they’ll learn also about the economic impacts and the technological advancements that this industry is driving. And you see all of that behind me, at this trade show, here, today, and outside at the outside pavilions, they’ll also learn about the many, many career paths that are available to them in this sector. And they are numerous, from engineers to labourers to scientists, the options are endless for students to find meaningful careers wherever they may choose geographically, but wherever they may choose as well within the scope of what our oil and gas production companies need.

“The options are really endless for our students and for that next generation to find a meaningful career in this industry, to find a meaningful career, quite likely, in the community where they were raised, and a career that will support them and any future family that they might have.

“So this new partnership, I would say, is a win, win for both students and industry. And I would throw in a third win there as well. It’s a win for our province and ultimately, the communities that make us it’s a chance for students to gain real life experience at a crucial point in their lives when they are making decisions on what they may or may not want to do after high school. It’s important that we open as many doors and provide as many opportunities for our students, which are our children, so that they can make informed decisions about what they might want to do in their future. It’s also a win for industry. They get to showcase the innovative work that they are doing with the workforce of tomorrow.

“And there I would put forward, and I’ll speak a little bit more about this at lunchtime. There is no industry that is pushing the boundaries of innovation like the Canadian oil and gas industry. We know that the one challenge this industry has is a labor market, a labor market that can keep pace with the growth and the innovation that we see behind me and we’ll see at this show over the next couple of days. And our government is committed to being able to work with industry to meet that labor market challenge that they have so that we can have a vibrant future in the oil and gas industry, ultimately in the lithium industry, the helium industry, as we expand our horizons, doubling down on the innovation again that you see behind me at this show.”