Empower students to make their schools and communities safer, more equitable, and inclusive.

The Federation of Canadian Secondary Students / Fédération des élèves du secondaire au Canada (FCSS-FESC) is an entirely non-partisan youth-led charity that aims to inform, educate, and ultimately empower high school students to foster social justice initiatives in their schools and local communities.

We use a mutual aid model where students are at the centre of our programs and initiatives. We encourage students to challenge systems of power that perpetuate social disadvantage and actively ground our work in an anti-oppressive and intersectional framework.

As an Education Policy Researcher focused on Student Mental Health, you will investigate the ways in which high school systems across Canada support, or fail to support, student mental well-being. This role does not involve direct mental health service delivery. Instead, you will conduct research on provincial education policies, school board guidelines, and leading practices to better understand how mental health is integrated into the everyday life of Canadian high schools. Your research will inform a policy report and toolkit intended to guide school boards, educators, and student organizations in implementing more equitable and effective mental health supports.

Responsibilities and Tasks

1. Conduct comparative research on how provinces and school boards approach student mental health, including curriculum integration, staffing, and wellness policies.
2. Review existing school-based mental health frameworks, models of school-community partnerships, and crisis intervention protocols.
3. Document disparities in student access to mental health resources across provinces, urban vs. rural contexts, and equity-deserving groups.
4. Develop a typology of common school-based mental health issues and assess how policy frameworks address, or fail to address, them.
5. Produce a written report outlining policy gaps, promising practices, and concrete recommendations for reform.
6. Create supplemental resources such as policy briefing notes, implementation toolkits, or communication materials for stakeholder use.
7. Coordinate and lead focus groups with students, educators, and mental health practitioners to inform the research.

Mandatory Qualifications

This job will be part of the Canada Summer Jobs Program. As per the requirements of the program, youth hired need to meet the following criteria. Please ensure you review the below before applying:

• be between 15 and 30 years of age at the start of the employment*;
• be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person to whom refugee protection has been conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for the duration of the employment**; and,
• have a valid Social Insurance Number at the start of employment and be legally entitled to work in Canada in accordance with relevant provincial or territorial legislation and regulations.

*The youth must be 15 years of age at the beginning of the employment period. The youth may be more than 30 years of age at the end of the employment period as long as the youth was 30 at the beginning of the employment period.

**International students are not eligible participants. International students include anyone who is temporarily in Canada for studies and who is not a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person who has been granted refugee status in Canada. Youth awaiting a refugee status ruling, as well as those who hold a temporary visitor visa, youth visa or work visa are ineligible. As the objective of the Canada Summer Jobs program is to support youth entering the Canadian labour market, the temporary nature of an international student's time in Canada does not allow for a long-term connection to the labour market.

Ideal Qualifications

• A post-secondary degree in education, psychology, social work, public policy, or a related field (either in-progress or completed).
• Some experience in policy or qualitative research, preferably in education, health, or social services (0.5 to 2 years).
• A strong understanding of mental health issues affecting youth and how schools respond (0.5 to 2 years).
• Excellent critical thinking and synthesis skills, especially in analyzing policy documents (1 to 4 years).
• Proficient in preparing reports and plain-language tools with a high standard of clarity and accuracy (1 to 4 years).
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and manage multiple responsibilities effectively (1 to 4 years).
• Clear, effective written and verbal communication skills suited to both academic and stakeholder audiences (1 to 4 years).

• Work location: remote/from home
• Hours: 35 hours per week (flexible scheduling)
• Pay: $17.20 per hour
• Contract: 8 weeks (start on 2 June 2025)
• Number of positions: 1

Equity Statement

At the FCSS-FESC, we are committed to building and fostering an environment where our Members, volunteers, and staff feel included, valued, and heard. Our belief is that a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion enables us to make our student advocacy work and services better for everyone. We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, Black and other racialized people, people with disabilities, people from gender and sexually diverse communities, linguistic minorities in their respective province/territory, and/or people with intersectional identities.