Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship –Survey-based research paper on Ontario student perceptions of ocean careers

Contributors: Craig Burkett (BSC Ltd), survey creation and administration, data analysis; Amberlea Williams, graphic design; Zach Martin, editing; Susan Buckingham, gender analysis advisor

The Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) is committed to developing the next generation of ocean experts and supporting the growth of Canada’s Blue Economy. Building on foundational research conducted by COVE in Atlantic Canada, we were engaged to survey Ontario high school students about their perceptions of the Blue Economy.

We began by seeking out COVE’s needs for the report, then by identifying and engaging other key stakeholders (Actua, Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ingenium, Ocean School, SOI Foundation) who could potentially benefit from the results of this research. We updated the questionnaire from the Atlantic Canada version to align with the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition’s cross-Canada survey on ocean literacy, and to reflect the critical concerns of all our stakeholders. The survey was administered in two Ontario high schools, with responses broken down by gender (gender-disaggregated), to understand differences in responses between genders, ensuring future programs developed based our the study’s results could be tailored to various genders.

The final report is short, punchy, conforms to COVE’s graphics guide, and presents the data we collected, comparing it to other research in this area, and providing a clear baseline from which to support work toward helping Ontario students find their way to the Blue Economy.