This information is intended to provide the background context of structure and control, within which the curriculum and assessment frameworks are implemented.
National
The Constitution Act gives exclusive authority to each province (or territory) in Canada to make laws in relation to education.54 That is, there is no federal education system. In accordance with the Constitution, responsibility for education is vested in the (ten) provinces or territories (of which there are three). Each province (or territory) controls all aspects of the education system up to the end of secondary school (high school). The Ministers of Education from each province, however, have established a National Secretariat, the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), to ensure communication on issues such as funding, programmes and student assessment. From time to time, CMEC undertakes national projects in curriculum and assessment and makes statements on its aims and responsibilities (see 1.2.1 and the CMEC web site at http://www.cmec.ca/).20
In Canada, education is the responsibility of each province and territory. Because Ministers of Education needed a forum in which to discuss issues of mutual concern, they established the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) in 1967. CMEC is the national voice for education in Canada. It is the mechanism through which Ministers consult and act on matters of mutual interest, and the instrument through which they consult and cooperate with national education organisations and the federal government. CMEC also represents the education interests of the provinces and territories internationally.19
Only recently has CMEC taken a more active stance toward influencing education through developing nationwide standardised tests and looking for ways to facilitate mobility of students between provinces.59
In early 2001, CMEC launched a new website designed to inform the international community about Canada's education systems. education@canada can be found at http://www.educationcanada.cmec.ca/.
Each provincial (or territorial) system, while similar to the others, reflects its specific regional concerns and historical and cultural heritage. The provincial 'Departments or Ministries of Education' - headed by an elected Minister - set standards, draw up curricula and give grants to educational institutions.20 Functions of Ministries include the supervision and inspection of elementary schools and high schools; provision of curriculum and school organisation guidelines; production of curriculum materials; finance; teacher certification; prescription of regulations for school trustees and teachers; and support services such as libraries, health and transportation.15
Historically, each province is organised around locally elected school boards, whose board of trustees is responsible for appointing the chief superintendent, and for hiring principals and teachers to run the schools within their jurisdiction. The school board is the employer of administrators and teachers and is funded by a combination of local taxes and provincial revenues. Education and curriculum policy is formulated at the provincial level and interpreted and implemented at the local level, within varying degrees of autonomy depending on the area and the province in question.59
The federal Government has an indirect involvement in education. It provides financial support for post-secondary education, adult occupational training and the teaching of the two official languages - especially second-language training. In addition, it is responsible for the education of Aboriginals, armed forces personnel and their dependants, and inmates of federal penal institutions.20
While the political parties in power in the various jurisdictions in Canada may differ and espouse philosophies either slightly to the left or right of centre, Canada is not a country of political extremes. Moderation and pragmatism are Canadian characteristics. In a nation founded on democratic principles, the majority of its citizens share an ethos of equal opportunity, and the provision of universal, free schooling to the college or university level. Education is viewed as a process of imparting the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve a productive, rewarding and fulfilling life. Differences, therefore, tend to focus on the interpretation of concepts such as 'knowledge' and 'skills' and the methods for acquiring them, rather than on the underlying principles.15
Charter schools
Charter schools operate within the public education system but are market-driven. They are responsible for the mandated curriculum, but are formed around a specific education mission or philosophy. They enjoy considerable autonomy from regulations of central district administration and directly manage their own funding allocations. Fiscal rewards are bestowed upon schools that meet their objectives, whilst fiscal penalties are imposed upon schools that do not. Charter schools may not charge tuition fees, teach religion or discriminate in admissions.42
British Columbia
The Ministry of Education is responsible for ensuring that students enrolled in elementary schools and high schools have access to quality and cost-effective education. The Ministry sets the standards and overall direction for the education system and provides leadership to education agencies in the province. The Ministry's key responsibilities are finance and facilities; programme (curriculum) direction; development and implementation; student access and achievement; and system evaluation and public accountability.21
British Columbia's public education system is administered by around 60 locally elected school board districts, which operate under the guidelines of the School Act and regulations and ministerial orders. Over half a million students are taught in more than 1,600 public schools in the province. The province also funds around 330 independent/private schools and several special schools.21
Boards of trustees are elected for each public school district and are responsible for setting spending priorities in their district. Boards hire staff, deliver programmes and services and maintain buildings.21
In summary, whilst the provincial Ministry of Education determines what students need to learn, districts and schools determine how they learn it. School administrators and teachers are responsible for each school's organisation and approaches to teaching and learning. Principals provide leadership for their schools and ensure that the schools' programmes (curricula), organisation (including timetables and staffing) and resources reflect the interests of students, parents and the community. Teachers determine the best teaching methods for students, the best way of grouping students for particular studies and the best way to present material to make it relevant and interesting.62
Ontario
In Ontario, the Minister of Education and Training is responsible for the administration of laws relating to education and skills training.54
In the area of elementary school and high school education, the Ministry of Education and Training determines the broad outlines for education and is responsible for:
Publicly-funded elementary school and high school education is, however, the shared responsibility of the province and local school boards. The province establishes objectives, standards and guidelines through the Education Act and regulations such as the General Legislative Grants Regulation that determine the allocation of provincial grants for education funding. School boards determine how education programmes and services are delivered and the resources required to carry out their responsibilities.21
There are currently around 170 school boards in Ontario, including four French language boards, which all work within the framework of the Education Act and its regulations to adapt provincial education policy to local situations. They also provide and maintain, within their local jurisdiction, adequate teaching and support staff and appropriate facilities. Trustees, as elected members of the board, represent the local community, providing a link between electors and the education system.54
Saskatchewan
The following example provides details of the organisation of the educational structure in the province of Saskatchewan:
Regional offices
Regional offices represent 'Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment' (the provincial Ministry/Department of Education) across the province by communicating Department priorities and programmes, delivering a broad range of services and facilitating community involvement in education planning, problem-solving and service delivery. Regional offices are often the first departmental contact for parents, school officials and the general public. Current responsibilities include: curriculum implementation, special education programmes and general administration. Community development processes are used to facilitate collaborative working relationships among community agencies, school boards, educators and the public.73
Planning and policy coordination unit
The planning and policy coordination unit provides strategic planning, policy development, trend analysis, and coordination services. It also provides support to the Education Council, which was established to provide advice to the Minister and the Department on key issues and options in education. The unit serves as the Department's central contact with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). 73(See the CMEC web site at http://www.cmec.ca/)
School boards
Boards of education are elected every three years and are responsible for the provision of education services in their division. Boards function as autonomous corporate bodies under the authority of the province's Education Act and Regulations. Major board responsibilities include providing and maintaining schools; employing teaching and administrative staff; determining which school children will attend; establishing budgets and setting rates to raise the local share of those budgets; and making the necessary arrangements for the transportation of students..73
In Saskatchewan, school boards are represented by the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association.73
National
Generally, publicly-funded education in Canada is co-educational and free (for all Canadian citizens and permanent residents), up to and including post-compulsory upper secondary (senior high) school. That is to say that, although the law only requires children to attend school from the age of 6 or 7 until they are 15 or 16 years old, education is provided free of charge until graduation from (non-compulsory) senior high school at around age 18. In Quebec, free education is extended to include attendance at the general and vocational colleges (CEGEPs), which charge only a minimal registration fee. The student pays tuition for most other post-secondary education. (About five million children in Canada received a free education during the 1990-91 school year.)20,21
Nationally, more than 90 per cent of students are enrolled in public schools which are funded through taxation revenue. These resources are intended to cover all capital and operating costs. As of 1991-92 for example, 94 per cent of all students attended public schools. Five per cent were enrolled in private institutions and the balance were enrolled in special needs schools or educated at home.
More than 90 per cent of educational revenue comes from government, with the balance generated from private sources such as tuition fees, donations and investment income.15
Financial responsibility is, however, frequently shared between the provincial and local governments. In 1992-93, approximately 58 per cent of school board revenue was provided by provincial grants. The remainder was obtained mainly through property taxation by local levels of government or by school boards with taxing powers. On average, school boards raised almost 3.5 per cent of their revenue through such methods as tuition fees, sale of services and investment income. The amounts provided by local and provincial revenue vary significantly from one jurisdiction to another. Generally, Ontario and the western provinces rely significantly on the contribution of local education property taxes. Ontario, at 57.8 per cent has the highest local contribution to education. Quebec, the Atlantic provinces and the territories have considerably lower local contributions, with both Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick having virtually no local sources of revenue.20
Within Canada, the amount of funding available for education and the method of financing education vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The size of the population, participation rates, the structure of education, revenue sources, taxation levels and local priorities of education all contribute to the wide variety of relative education expenditure.20
In 1993, Canada spent 54.2 billion Canadian Dollars on education, which represents eight per cent of its gross domestic product20 (or 20.4 per cent of all public expenditure; second only to public expenditure on health in Canada).21 This percentage is among the highest of the industrialised countries.20 Indeed, among the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States), Canada has recorded the highest level of public investment in all levels of education relative to its economy. (Source: OECD (1993). Education at a Glance 2: OECD Indicators. Paris: OECD). Canada's expenditure per student as a percentage of GDP per capita was 32.2 per cent in 1990-91. The United States, at 29.9 per cent had the second highest rate, and Japan, at 23.1 per cent had the lowest rate for those G7 countries reporting this information.21
University and other post-secondary education is subsidised by the provincial and federal governments. University student fees only account for an average 17.8 per cent of operating revenues of 6.6 billion Canadian Dollars. Through its Canada Student Loans Programme, the federal Government, assists students who do not have sufficient resources to pursue their studies. It provides loan guarantees and, in the case of full-time students, interest subsidies to help meet the cost of studies at the post-secondary level. Provinces have complementary programmes of loans and bursaries. In 1991-92, provincial and federal government expenditures for student aid amounted to just over 794 million Canadian Dollars.20
Canada's major financial commitment to education is reflected in its labour force; in 1989, 15 per cent of workers had university degrees, and 42 per cent had some post-secondary education, compared with 29 per cent a decade earlier. However, at the other end of the spectrum, nine per cent of the labour force had less than a Grade/Year 9 (age 15/16) level education, and it has been estimated that as many as one fourth of Canadians suffer from basic or functional illiteracy.15
Alberta
Schools in the province are funded via the Alberta School Foundation Fund (ASFF) which provides for payments from the province to local school boards of an equal amount per eligible student, based on enrolments and high school course completions. Additional funding representing grants authorised by the Minister is provided from the general revenues of the province. In addition, local school boards may levy up to three per cent of their annual budget through a Special School Tax Levy.21
The funding framework allocates funds to school boards using three blocks: the 'instruction block', the 'support block' and the 'capital block'. Within the instruction block, school boards receive an equal amount per student to provide basic instructional services to their students. Funding is also provided in the instruction block to support special education; sparsity and distance costs; initiatives that improve the quality of education; home education; learning resources; early childhood services and school-based instructional support and administration. The support block provides for the costs of operating and maintaining schools; board governance and central office administration; and student transportation, whilst the capital block provides for the cost of school building projects supported by Alberta Education (the Ministry of Education in Alberta, now known as 'Alberta Learning').21
British Columbia
The provincial Government provides an overall block of funds which is allocated to the school board districts to cover the cost of providing educational programmes and services to learners.21
Provincial funding covers the cost of:
The block of funds for Kindergarten to Grade/Year 12 education is determined in the spring. The block amount is expressed as an average amount for each student, multiplied by the expected provincial student enrolment. For the 1995-1996 school year, the block amount was over 3.3 billion Canadian Dollars, based on an average per student amount of 5,827 Canadian Dollars.21 (The spring 1998 exchange rate was around Canadian Dollars 2.25 per Pound Sterling.)
In addition to the block of funds, the provincial Government also provides money for capital construction of new schools and extensions to existing ones. Other funding is for specific programmes, such as the Provincial Special Resources Programmes, School Meals Programmes etc.21
The block of funds is allocated to the school board districts based on actual costs, and distributed through the Funding Allocation System. This system is intended to provide equity of access to educational services across the province, and recognises the relative costs of providing programmes in each district.21
There are wide differences in the costs and needs of each school board district in the province. For instance, a district in northern British Columbia has far higher heating costs than one in the south; or a district with many new immigrants needs to provide more extensive English as a Second Language (ESL) programmes21.
The majority of every district's funding is accounted for through the Common Core Grant, which allocates a standard base amount for each district, for each student (based on Grade/Year level) and for each elementary school or high school. These amounts are the same for each district. Variances in funding are recognised through Specific District Grants, which take into account the varying costs across districts due to factors such as differences in student make-up (the number of students enrolled in higher cost programmes such as ESL or special education); differences in teacher salary levels due to the salary grids and category and experience level of teachers; variations in the cost of operations, maintenance and transportation based on the age of the facilities and the distance being travelled; and differences in district size and geographic characteristics.21
Ontario
In Ontario, there are two publicly-funded parallel systems of compulsory education- one is the public school system and the other is the Catholic separate school system, which is fully funded.59
In Ontario, elementary school and high school education is the shared responsibility of the province and local school boards. The province establishes objectives, standards and guidelines through the Education Act and regulations such as the General Legislative Grants Regulation that determine the allocation of provincial grants for education funding. School boards determine how education programmes and services are delivered and the resources required to carry out their responsibilities.21
School boards set their annual budgets and raise their share of expenditure through taxes levied on residential and non-residential properties within their local jurisdiction. In addition to property taxes, school boards can generate revenue through tuition fees, rentals, property sales, federal grants etc. Provincial grants are paid to school boards to ensure that all boards have equitable resources to provide a base level of education programmes and services.21
The cost-sharing arrangement is calculated through a provincially developed education funding model. Under this grant programme, the province determines a standard recognised expenditure per student, known as the grant ceiling. The ceiling amount reflects the cost of providing a basic level of education to students across the province, including special education programmes provided for exceptional students. To meet its recognised expenditure, each school board is also required to levy local property taxes. This property assessment base is equalised to ensure that all local ratepayers are subject to the same tax effort to support the same base level of education. All expenditure in excess of the grant ceilings is generally funded entirely via the local tax base.21
However, in addition to per student grants for recognised expenditure, the province of Ontario also provides Board Specific Grants to local school boards which experience higher expenditure for providing the base level of education, due to geographic, social and economic conditions that are beyond their control. Programme Specific Grants are also provided to encourage the implementation of programmes and services that respond to local needs and meet provincial priorities.21
The construction of schools in Ontario is also financed as a cooperative undertaking between the individual local school board and the province of Ontario. Each board advises the Ministry of Education annually of its five-year projected capital needs. These requests are analysed and provincial grants are provided to cover part of the costs, with local school boards then providing the remainder.20
Saskatchewan
18 per cent of the provincial budget was allocated to Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment in 1994-95, with education being the second largest provincial expenditure after health care. School divisions' largest expenditure is on instruction, which includes teachers' salaries, library books and instructional material. The second largest expenditure is on plant operation - maintaining, repairing and constructing schools. The cost of delivering education is less in cities than in rural and northern communities.75
The Saskatchewan Government, through Saskatchewan Education, provides the province's 118 school divisions with operational funding that accounts for approximately 44 per cent of school division revenue, whilst local taxes account for, on average, 51 per cent of school division revenue and the remaining four per cent comes via federal government, auxiliary services, interest and dividends.21
The funding of capital education projects approved by the province is shared on an average 63 per cent province and 37 per cent school basis.21
National
Private or independent schools, which provide an alternative to publicly-funded schools, may operate in any province or territory, if they meet the general standards prescribed by that jurisdiction for elementary schools and high schools. Although in most cases, they follow closely the curriculum and diploma requirements of the provincial Department or Ministry of Education, they are independent from the public system and charge fees. Five provinces - British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec - provide some form of financial assistance to such private schools.21
For parents seeking alternatives to the public system, there are "separate" as well as private schools. Provincial legislation permits the establishment of separate schools by religious groups. Mostly Roman Catholic, separate schools offer a complete parochial curriculum from Kindergarten through to secondary (high school) education level in some provinces..20 Such separate schools are generally state-funded.
(There has been increasing interest in private schools in recent years, generated by some parent groups concerned about traditional values and a perceived decline in standards in the public system. Private or independent schools in most provinces receive only partial funding from the Government.)
Nationally, as of 1991-92, five per cent of students were enrolled in private institutions.
Most public schools, with the exception of a few separate schools, are co-educational. In contrast, many private schools were established exclusively for either boys or girls, although some subsequently became co-educational.15
Alberta
Private schools in Alberta receive slightly more than one third of their revenue from the provincial government. The main source of private school revenue is tuition fees and, for residential private schools, room and board.21
British Columbia
The province funds some 331 independent schools, as well as the public schools under its jurisdiction.15
Ontario
At the present time, private schools in Ontario do not receive any public funding.21 Independently operated, these schools offer both elementary school and high school education and are listed by the Ministry of Education and Training, which also ensures that private high schools are inspected for the standard of instruction in subjects leading to graduation. The full list of (government) registered private elementary schools and high schools is available from the Ministry of Education and Training.54 The fact that these private schools are registered on the Ministry's list does not, however, indicate that such schools are Ministry approved.56