Canadian Education: A System of Needs and Evidence

PaperSeed’s “What’s Working in Education” series spotlights different countries around the world and examines the unique things they are doing right. While no approach is perfect, we are hoping to root out some common practices that can—and perhaps should—be applied to schools in countries that don’t perform as well.

This week, we are taking a closer look at Canada: a highly educated country with an impressive 53% of adults having tertiary education[1]. Although, it is important to note that this does not mean that 53% of Canadians hold college degrees! Instead, in addition to public universities, Canadians can opt to attain vocational training and accreditations after completing high school. Interestingly, Canada’s success is not due to higher spending on education; Canada spends close the OECD average on education, and most of that spending comes from public funds[2]. Instead, it would appear that Canada’s evidence- and needs-based approach to education policy have contributed to the country’s boast-worthy PISA test results.

Canada’s participation in the PISA test was paired with a longitudinal study and parent questionnaires. The PISA is an international assessment wherein a participating country’s 15-year-olds test their reading and math skills every 3 years. By pairing their PISA testing and results with a longitudinal study, Canadian policymakers were able to collect robust data, which helped them better understand where Canada’s education system fell short, and what was working well[3].

Something Canada does exceedingly well is providing needs-based education. Nowhere is this more apparent than in their approach to providing proper linguistic education:

“Canada is a bilingual country, and the constitution recognizes French and English as its two official languages. According to the 2006 Census, more than 85 per cent of French-mother- tongue Canadians live in the province of Quebec: the minority language rights of French-speaking students living outside the province of Quebec and English-speaking students living in the province of Quebec are protected in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms... Each province and territory has established French-language school boards to manage the French-first-language schools. In the province of Quebec, the same structure applies to education in English-first-language schools.”[4]

Not only is the recognition of need for both French and English-speaking education in all regions (regardless of the dominant language in said region) impressive, but the additional oversight of French-language school boards to manage the French-first schools helps to ensure that students are receiving the instruction they need to excel in their mother tongue.

Language is just one example of Canada’s needs-based education model. Because provincial governments are responsible for developing school curriculums, they are better equipped to address specific regional needs, heritage, and culture[5]. Much like the United States, teachers must complete a bachelor’s degree (typically four years of study at a university) and attain a teacher’s certificate. Teachers certificates are also given at the provincial level, allowing for greater regional specialization and training. Although education requirements are not much more stringent than other OECD countries, teacher compensation can top out at over $65,000 per year, which is much higher than the OECD average. This is an interesting contrast to Finland, which requires all teachers to attain master’s degrees, but does not offer much higher compensation as a result[6].

In researching for this article, we were particularly impressed by Canada’s commitment to regionally-based education policy. Our philosophy is that local leaders know best how to address the needs of students in their community, so this approach truly resonated with us. This is a practice which could be better adopted nearly every country in the world, especially when considering urban versus rural areas and regions where different dialects or languages are spoken. Regionally appropriate education could also help better prepare students to enter the workforce in their state or province, as job availability and specializations vary drastically based on the local economy.

Canadian teachers earn a much higher than average salary.

Canada’s focus on evidence based education policy ensures that it will likely be an education leader for years to come. As the global economy continues to shift toward teaching and emphasizing 21st century skills, it seems likely that Canadian policymakers will—and perhaps already have—anticipated that shift and will modify standards and class offerings appropriately. It is our hope that as our fellow international development organizations strive toward providing quality education to all children, they will view Canada as a model by which to form policy, and invest time and energy in both research and implementation.

[1] “Canada Shows Highest Level of Tertiary Education, Says OECD” OECD, http://www.oecd.org/canada/eag2014ca.htm (September 13, 2017).

[2] “Public spending on education” OECD, https://data.oecd.org/eduresource/public-spending-on-education.htm (September 27th, 2017)

[3] “How PISA Has Informed Learning Policy in Canada”, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, https://edsurveys.rti.org/PISA/documents/Brink_NCES_research_conference_May_29_2009.pdf (September 13, 2017)

[4] “Education in Canada: An Overview”, Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, https://www.cmec.ca/299/Education-in-Canada-An-Overview/index.html (September 13, 2017).

[5] “Education in Canada: An Overview”, Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, https://www.cmec.ca/299/Education-in-Canada-An-Overview/index.html (September 13, 2017).

[6] “Teachers’ Salaries,” OECD, https://data.oecd.org/eduresource/teachers-salaries.htm (July 27th, 2017)