- Sean Coughlan
- Educational correspondent
Credit, Reuters
In debates about the world’s best education systems, the most cited names tend to come from Nordic countries, such as Norway and Finland, or powerhouses like Singapore and South Korea.
Although it is much less remembered, Canada has risen to the top of international rankings.
In the most recent round of the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) exams, run by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an entity that groups together developed countries), Canada was among the top ten countries in mathematics, science and text interpretation.
These tests are the largest international study of academic achievement and show that Canadian youth are among the best educated in the world.
They are far ahead of their neighbours like the United States and European countries with which they have cultural ties, such as the United Kingdom and France.
Canada also has the highest proportion of working-age adults with tertiary education – 55%, compared to an average of 35% for OECD countries.
Immigrant students
Canada’s success in school exams is unusual compared to international trends.
The best performing countries are usually small, with homogeneous and cohesive societies, and with every element of the education system integrated into a national strategy – as in Singapore, which has been used as an example of systematic progress.
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Canada doesn’t even have a national education system, as the organization is based on autonomous provinces. And it’s hard to imagine a greater contrast between a city-state like Singapore and a country of continental dimensions like Canada.
In an attempt to understand Canada’s success in education, the OECD described the federal government’s role in the sector as “limited and sometimes non-existent.”
It is also well known that Canada has a high number of immigrants in its schools. More than a third of young people in Canada have both parents from another country.
Children from newly arrived immigrant families integrate at a pace fast enough to reach the same level of performance as their classmates.
Credit, Getty Images
When we analyze the latest OECD rankings in detail, Canada’s regional results are even more impressive.
If the provinces entered the test as separate countries, three of them (Alberta, Quebec and British Columbia) would end up in the top five in science, alongside Singapore and Japan and ahead of countries such as Finland and Hong Kong.
After all, how has Canada been able to surpass so many other countries in education?
Andreas Schleicher, director of education at the OECD, says the characteristic that unites the country’s diverse education systems is equality.
Despite several differences in educational policies, one common trait across all regions of the country is the commitment to equal opportunities in school.
According to Schleicher, there is a strong sense of balance and equality of access, which is reflected in the high academic achievements of children of immigrants.
Within three years of arriving in the country, immigrant students achieve grades as high as their peers. This makes Canada one of the few countries in which immigrant children achieve at a level similar to that of non-immigrants.
Another distinguishing feature is that teachers are very well paid by international standards – and entry into the profession is highly selective.
David Booth, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Studies in Education, points to a strong popular investment in literacy.
Systematic efforts have been made to improve literacy, with the recruitment of well-trained educators, investment in resources such as school libraries, and assessments to identify schools or students who might be struggling.
John Jerrim of the UCL Institute of Education in London says Canada’s strong performance in international rankings reflects the country’s socio-economic homogeneity.
The country is not a nation of extremes. On the contrary, their results show a high average, with little difference between the most advantaged and the least advantaged students.
Credit, Getty Images
In the last Pisa exam, the OECD exam, the variation in scores caused by socio-economic differences among Canadian students was 9%, compared to 20% in France and 17% in Singapore, for example.
More equitable outcomes explain why Canada does so well on international exams. The country doesn’t even have a residual share of students with poor results, which is usually linked to poverty.
It is a coherent system. Apart from the small difference between rich and poor students, there is also very little variation between different schools, compared to the average in developed countries.
According to Professor Jerrim, the high number of immigrants is not seen as a potential barrier to exam success – it is probably one of the ingredients for good results.
Immigrants living in Canada, many of whom come from countries such as China, India and Pakistan, are relatively well-educated and have ambitions to see their children become successful professionals.
The expert says these families have a “hunger for success” and their high expectations likely influence their children’s academic performance.
Professor Booth of the University of Toronto also cites this fact. “Many families new to Canada want their children to succeed and students are motivated to learn,” he says.
This year has been a banner year for education in Canada. Universities are benefiting from the “Donald Trump effect,” with a record number of applications from students who see Canada as an alternative to the United States following the election of the current president.
The winner of the Global Teacher Award is also Canadian: Maggie MacDonnell is using the award to campaign for the rights of Indigenous students.
As it celebrates its 150th anniversary, Canada claims superpower status in education.
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