Canada
From WAET
Michael K. Barbour
Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia
|
The Canadian belief in education is general and deep. And this belief is reflected in a considerable financial commitment: Canada ranks among the world's leaders in per capita spending on public education. Canada maintains this level of investment because it continues to generate healthy returns. Almost everywhere, the quality of education is directly related to the quality of life. In Canada, the high educational level (almost half the population over the age of 15 now has some post- secondary schooling) has proven to be a powerful contributor to the country's favorable standard of living, its growth of opportunity, and its reputation as a place where intellectual accomplishment is fostered and profitably pursued" (Government of Canada, 2002).
Canada is a confederation of ten provinces and three territories - a vast country stretching across North America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and north to the Arctic Ocean. Unlike many other industrialized countries, Canada has no federal educational system; the Constitution vested the responsibility for education in the provinces. Each province and territory is responsible for elementary, secondary and post-secondary education. The provincial and territorial departments of education set standards, draw up curricula, and give grants to educational institutions. As a result, Canada has no national or federal department of education. Although there are a great many similarities in the thirteen education systems across Canada, each reflects the diversity of its own regional history, culture, and geography.
In 1967, the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada was formed to act as the national voice of education in Canada. Council of Ministers of Education is an organization where the provincial and territorial Ministers of Education meet to discuss matters of common interest. It also represents their interests when working with the federal Government. Although the primary responsibility for education rests with the provinces and territories, federal Government policies effect some aspects of the education system. For example, the mandates of several federal government departments affect education, such as official languages, post-secondary education funding, human resource development and, more recently, information and communications technology.
For the most part, children in Canada begin kindergarten at the age of four or five on a voluntary basis. All children start grade one at about six years of age. The school year normally runs from September (the first Tuesday after Labor Day) through the following June (usually to the end of the third or fourth week). Formal schooling is from kindergarten up to grade twelve in most instances.
Public education is run by the provincial governments and is paid for through taxes, it is free and available to every child in Canada. According to provincial and/or territorial law, children must attend school until the age of fifteen or sixteen. Some provinces still maintain separate public school boards reflecting different religious and language preferences. These typically were in existence when that province entered Canada and was constitutionalized. Generally, the language of instruction is either English or French. In the province of Quebec, almost all newcomers attend French language schools.
In most provinces children begin with elementary school, which is typically from kindergarten to grade six or eight. This is followed by secondary school also called high school. In some provinces this may be divided into junior high or middle school (grades seven to nine) and senior high (grades ten to twelve). At present, there are approximately five million children attending public schools in Canada.
Education System in Each of the Provinces
While the education systems of the ten provinces and three territories are structured very similarly, there are some differences. While the province of Ontario only goes to grade twelve now, up until 2002-03 it also had a grade thirteen or Ontario Academic Credit (OAC). In addition, while the province of Quebec only has formal schooling from kindergarten to grade eleven, upon the completion of grade eleven those students who are continuing with their education attend Cégep studies. Cégep is a French acronym for College of General and Vocational Education, and is two years of general or three years of technical education between high school and college or university.
| Province/territory | Kindergarten | Elementary/Primary | Junior High / Middle School / Intermediate | Senior High / Secondary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 1 year | Primary (1-3) & Elementary (4-6) | 7-9 | 10-12 | |
| Nova Scotia | 1 year | 1-6 | 7-9 | 10-12 | |
| Prince Edward Island | . | 1-6 | 7-9 | 10-12 | |
| New Brunswick | 1 year | 1-6 | 7-9 | 10-12 | |
| Quebec | 2 years | 1-6 | . | 7-11 | |
| Ontario | 2 years | 1-8 | . | 9-12 | |
| Manitoba | 2 years | 1-8 | . | 9-12 | |
| Saskatchewan | 1 year | 1-5 | 6-9 | 10-12 | |
| Alberta | 1 year | 1-6 | 7-9 | 10-12 | |
| British Columbia | 1 year | 1-7 | . | 8-12 | |
| Yukon | 1 year | 1-6 | 7-9 | 10-12 | |
| Northwest Territories | 1 year | 1-6 | 7-9 | 10-12 | |
| Nunavut | 1 year | 1-6 | 7-9 | 10-12 |
In most province's there is a single, publicly funded school system. However, some provinces do have publicly funded separate school systems from Roman Catholic students, such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. Quebec also has two publicly funded school systems based upon language and not religion.
In most provinces, home schooling legislation is very restrictive. For example, in Newfoundland and Labrador, in order to be home schooled a child has to be under the supervision of a certified teacher. This is common in many provinces. There are a few provinces, however, that do have more progressive homeschooling legislation (such as Alberta).
Finally, most provinces have some form of distance education to service students who attend schools in remote and rural communities. However, to date there are only five provinces that have established virtual high schools. Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia all have province-wide virtual high schools, while Alberta has a series of district-wide virtual high school initiatives.
National Technology Policy
According to a national survey by Plante & Beattie found that "less than 1% of the elementary and secondary schools in Canada were without computers. Overall, it is estimated that more than one million computers were available for educational use in schools across the country. This represents an average of 72 computers per school" (p. 8). The same survey reported that "the median number of students per computer in elementary and secondary schools in Canada was estimated at 5" (p. 10).
In terms of connectivity, Plante and Beattie remarked that "virtually all elementary and secondary schools were connected to the Internet. Only a small proportion of principals reported not having computers (less than 1%) or Internet connections (less than 3%). By comparison, nearly 55% of Canadian households in 2002 and 78% of private sector enterprises in 2003 reported being connected to the Internet. Results from the School Achievement Indicators Program showed that, in 2002, 93% of students aged thirteen to sixteen reported having a computer at home and 85% reported having Internet access" (p.16).
In terms of teacher's ability to use information and communications technologies, Plante and Beattie found that "three out of four (76%) principals reported that more than 75% of teachers possessed the required technical skills to use information and communications technologies for administrative purposes. By contrast, not quite half (46%) of principals reported that more than 75% of teachers had the necessary qualifications to engage students in using information and communications technologies effectively" (p. 25).
According to Statistics Canada (2003), the five main challenges to information and communications technologies use by schools were having sufficient funding for technology, ensuring computers and peripherals are up to date, obtaining sufficient copies/licenses of software for instructional purposes, having enough training opportunities for teachers, and obtaining sufficient number of computers. These findings were supported by Plante and Beattie, who also found that "more than nine out of ten principals (92%)agreed that 'information and communications technologies are worth the investment'. More than 90% of them also agreed with the following statements: information and communications technologies allows teachers to broaden and enrich the curriculum (96%); overall, information and communications technologies enables the curriculum to be more challenging and enriching (93%); and information and communications technologies enables students to go beyond the prescribed curriculum, thereby facilitating an increased knowledge base (92%)" (p. 28).
Even through education is a provincial jurisdiction, as mentioned above, the federal Government is able to maintain a role in provincial and territorial education system. One way this presence in education is felt is through the funding of federal programs that schools can take advantage of. Many of these programs are run through the federal Department of Industry's SchoolNet program. SchoolNet is a partnership with the provincial and territorial governments to promote the effective use of information and communications technologies in learning. The SchoolNet partnership connected schools and public libraries in Canada to the Internet on March 30, 1999. As this program has continued, SchoolNet has extended connectivity from schools to the classrooms and as of May 2000, there were close to half a million connected computers in Canadian schools.
In addition to this national program, the federal Government also sponsors a number of individual programs that encourage students, teachers and schools to utilize information and communications technology in the schools by providing financial incentives. Many of these programs are administered through SchoolNet.
Grassroots
The SchoolNet GrassRoots Program is a unique program designed for teachers to promote and facilitate the effective integration and use of information and communications technologies in the classroom. Canadian K-12 students gain essential information and communications technologies skills by creating innovative collaborative learning projects that are showcased on the Internet. Funding is offered to schools that complete a project following the program's guidelines. These projects, which are initiated, designed and implemented by the teacher and students, are curriculum relevant, focus on learning activities carried out using the Internet and result in the creation of a website.
The GrassRoots Program has involved over 6000 schools in which students have created over 36,000 on-line projects. By far the largest and most accessible of the federal Government's technology in education programs, the Grassroots program has also produced spin off programs such as Generations CanConnect, Communities@ca, Pollution Solutions, Profiling Canada and the Canadian Communities Atlas Project. Participating schools could receive anywhere from $300 to $5500 per project, depending on the size, nature and number of partners involved in their project.
Network of Innovative Schools
The Network of Innovative Schools is a project from Industry Canada's SchoolNet and the Canadian Association of School Administrators that recognizes schools in the K-12 system which innovate using information and communications technologies in meaningful and imaginative ways to improve learning. To date over 100 schools have joined the Network on Innovative Schools. Members of Network of Innovative Schools are strengthening the capacity for innovation in schools through the integration of information and communications technologies across the curriculum, research on the impacts of information and communications technologies on learning and sharing of innovative practices for the use of information and communications technologies in the classroom. These schools should help Canadian students gain the skills required to succeed in the modern knowledge-based economy.
As a member of the Network of Innovation Schools, member schools receive $10,000 a year for a period of three years to pursue innovative uses of information and communications technologies, research on student use of information and communications technologies and mentoring of other schools of community groups on innovative uses of information and communications technologies. This program began in 1999 and stopped accepting applications in 2004.
Community Access Program
Unlike the first two programs that were discussed, the Community Access Program is not specifically designed to target students, teachers or schools. The Community Access Program is an initiative administered by Industry Canada which aims to provide Canadians with affordable public access to the Internet and the skills they need to use it effectively. The Community Access Program is designed to help Canadians, wherever they live, take advantage of emerging opportunities in the new global knowledge-based economy.
The Community Access Program started in 1994 in rural communities. Following a successful pilot urban selected communities, the Community Access Program has been available in urban areas since December 1999. At present, there are 180 Community Access Program sites in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Throughout the rural portions of the province, many of these sites are located in public schools.
References
Government of Canada. (2002). Department of foreign affairs and international trade: Education in Canada. Retrieved on September 12, 2004, from http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/ics-cki/stu_ces-en.asp
Plante, J. & Beattie, D. (2004). Connectivity and ICT integration in Canadian elementary and secondary schools: First results from the information and communications technologies in schools survey, 2003-2004. Retrieved on September 12, 2004, from http://www.schoolnet.ca/home/documents/Report_EN.pdf
Statistics Canada. (2003). Information and communications technologies in schools survey. Ottawa, ON: Queen's Printing for Canada.
Related Chapters
Newfoundland
This case study focuses on St. Mark's school, located in Newfoundland.
About the Author
| Originally from Newfoundland, Canada, Michael K. Barbour was a second year doctoral student at the University of Georgia at the time this chapter was published. Prior to his doctoral studies, Michael was employed at Discovery Collegiate (a school in the Vista School District which neighboured St. Mark's School) for four years. During this period, he served as a classroom teacher, Partnership Development Co-ordinator for the district, and the Web-based Initiatives Facilitator for the Centre of Distance Learning and Innovation in the district. It was through the latter two positions that Michael was actively involved with St. Mark's School. Michael's current research interests focus on the use of web-based distance education a way to provide equitable access to mandated curriculum in rural school settings. |  |
Citation
APA Citation: Barbour, M. K. (2005). Canda. In M. Orey, T. Amiel, & J. McClendon (Eds.), The web almanac of educational technologies. Retrieved <insert date>, from http://www.waet.uga.edu/
