diversity of education systems

8/14/2019 Diversity of Education Systems

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ED ATI AL Y TEM

IN CANADA

Structure and organization of education in Canada



Contemporary Canadian provincial governments fund a diversity ofschools including:

Public school systems

Separate school systems catering for Roman Catholic and specificProtestant denominations

A variety of private or independent groups (Pentecostal Christian

education



Public school system

In 1985, Canada already had a substantial degree of diversity in

the public education system. Several provinces supported more than

one public school system. For example, Quebec had separate

systems of English and French language school boards across the

province, while Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan supported both

“ ublic” and Roman Catholic school s stems. Durin the 1990s in

response to a series of decisions by the Supreme Court, all provinces

also created self-governing Francophone school systems for minority

lan ua e u ils Ontario has both “ ublic” and Catholic

francophone systems, giving it four public education systems.



Alternative schools

Further, many local school boards have long supported a range of

alternative schools. Many Canadian school districts have a variety

of programs such as multi-graded alternative elementary schools,

French Immersion (in which non-francophone children are taught in

French), International Baccalaureate, and others.



Ethnic schools

In response to a growing recognition of ethnic diversity in the 1970s

and 1980s, schools across Canada began to teach or even

specialize in a range of languages including German, Chinese,

Hebrew, and others. Schools with a focus on Aboriginal culture and

heritage, or on black culture and heritage, were created. The

Edmonton Public School District was one of the most a ressive in

creating a wide range of alternative schools, with extensive

parental choice, within the ambit of the public school system.



Newfoundland, Quebec City and Montreal

wherein all members of a given in which the members of the

Denominational Separate or Dissentient

religious faith of voting age are,by virtue of the faith

automatically the electors of the’

Protestant or Roman Catholic

minority have exercised a right

to withdraw from the publica s sc oo sys em an e r

children have a right to attendonly schools of that system.

system to form their own school

district.

ew oun an , or examp e, a ourdenominational school systems: IntergratedProtestant, Roman Catholic, Seven DayAdventist, and Pentecoastal

,

Montreal two systems operate, one

Roman Catholic and one Protestant



Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories

By law in these jurisdictions, the first school system formed was the“public” system.

If the public system embraced the Protestant religion, then the Roman

Catholic minority was given the right to withdraw from the publicsystem an set up its own “separate” sc oo istrict. Converse y, i t e

public board adopted a Roman Catholic character, then a Protestant

separate school board could be formed.



Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta

In practice, the distinctions between separate and denominationalschools has faded. As the years have passed, school systems have

rown and almost all Protestant se arate school districts in Ontario

Saskatchewan and Alberta have merged with Protestant-majority

public districts. As well, most “public” Roman Catholic districts have

mer ed with Roman Catholic se arate school districts.

Today, it is most common in these three provinces to speak to the non-

denominational or secular public system and the Roman Catholic

“ ”sys em, a oug er a ma n a ns one pu c oman a o cschool district, several public boards in Saskatchewan are dominantly

Roman Catholic, and both Alberta and Ontario each have one

rotestant separate sc oo oar e t at t e moment.



Quebec

In Quebec, many Protestant dissentient districts merged with theProtestant denominational boards, while Roman Catholic dissentient

boards for the most art became art of the ublic s stem.

Traditionally, in Quebec, the Protestant school boards have been

associated with the Anglophone community, and the public school

boards have been associated with the French Catholic ma orit .

Nevertheless, a few dissentient Protestant and Roman Catholic school

boards remain.



Rights to denominational, separate or dissentient schools areguaranteed in the Canadian Constitution



What is a Private School in Canada?

If a private school is defined as one that operates outside of the

provincially funded and governed school system, then there exist a

number of different varieties.



Religious schools

In many provinces these are excluded from the public system as a

result of the terms of Section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867. They

may be private schools that operate in provinces, such as Manitoba,

where the public system is strictly non-denominational. Or, they may

be schools that operate according to the tenets of faiths outside the

mainstream Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. These include

Jewish and Islamic schools as well as those operated by the Mormon

and other Christian communities. Parents whose children attend such

reli ious schools are often re uired to a fees for service to those

schools. The parents are not, however, exempted from paying schooltaxes towards the maintenance and operation of the public

.



First Nations schools

These are excluded from the public system as a result of the various

Treaties signed between First Nations and the Government of

Canada during the late 1800s. The federal government is

responsible for the education of First Nations children.

Funding for Band schools is provided by the federal government.

education is considered a treaty right, parents do not pay fees or

taxes to support their school. If non-Band members attend a First

, - ,then tuition agreements are developed between the local public

school board and the Band.



Independent private schools

These schools modeled on the British public school, where parents

pay annual tuition fees in order for their children to attend.

ere are many n epen en sc oo s across e coun ry, eac o

which attempts to establish or define a niche not met by the public

school system. What is common to many, however, are that theystress t e sma c ass s zes an n v ua ze nstruct on ava a e to

their students. Such arrangements are possible because fee levels

can be manipulated in order to meet organizational needs.



Charter schools

These are essentially schools that have been established to meet the

needs of a specific population and yet which operate under

provincial legislation. They are defined as "autonomous public

schools which would provide innovative or enhanced means of

delivering education to improve student learning. It should be noted

that in law these schools o erate as ublic schools and are not

permitted to restrict enrolment to certain groups of students. In

practice, however, there are some indications that charters are being

written in such a wa as to tar et s ecific o ulations.



Home schools

Finally, there are those parents who choose to home school their

children in an environment totally separate from a formal school

system. Such parents have basically withdrawn from the public

system and yet are unwilling, or unable, to send their children to

organized alternative settings.



Funding for private education varies from province to province. It is

nonexistent in the Yukon, but as much as 75% in Quebec.



Ontario

In Ontario the Catholic system continues to be fully publicly funded,

but other faiths receive no such funding. Ontario has several private

Jewish Muslim and Christian schools but all are funded throu h

tuition fees. Since the Catholic schools system is entrenched in the

constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled that this system is not

unconstitutional. However the United Nations has ruled that Ontario's

system is unfair.



British Columbia, Alberta and the rest of the provinces

In other provinces privately operated religious schools are funded. In

British Columbia the government pays 50% of the cost of religious

schools that meet ri orous rovincial standards. The rovince has a

number of Sikh, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim schools. Alberta also has

a network of charter schools, which are fully funded schools offering

distinct a roaches to education within the ublic school s stem. These

schools have to follow the provincial curriculum and meet all

standards, but are given considerable freedom in other areas. In all

as much as the public system.



Prior to any early organization among the settlers

The native peoples of Canada were educated within the families and

communities in which they lived. Basic early educational practices and

beliefs were assed on to the oun b an older eneration in order

to maintain the individual culture and social order of the cultural

group.



Early European settlers (1700s – mid 1800s)

Education was not only a family matter, but an important concern of

the Christian churches to maintain their control over the moral life of

the earl settlers.



The arrival of the first colonists from Europe (mid 1800s)

It was inconceivable for the churches to separate their religious and

education mandates. The colonists willingly provided land grants to

aid the cause of reli ious education.

By 1842, Quebec, Manitoba, and Alberta had formal schooling.

By the end of 18th century, three major religious denominations(C urc o Eng an , Roman Cat o ic an Met o ist) were active y

promoting education.



Upper and Lower Canada

The first schools in New France were operated by the church. In the

early nineteenth century the colonial governments moved to set up

ublicl funded education s stems. However soon reli ious divisions

became problematic. At the time religious study was considered an

integral part of education, but Protestants and Catholics were deeply

divided over how this education should be delivered. In U er

Canada the Catholic minority rejected the Protestant practice of

Biblical study in schools, while in Lower Canada the Protestant minority

Thus in both these areas two schools systems were established, aCatholic and a Protestant. Upon Confederation these schools systems

, .



Maritime provinces

In the three Maritime provinces, schools were mainly Protestant, and a

single Protestant oriented school system was established in each of

them. In Newfoundland there was not onl the Catholic Protestant

split, but also deep divisions between Protestant sects, and nine

separate schools systems were set up, one catering to each major

denomination. Eventuall the ma or Protestant boards mer ed into an

integrated school system.



Prairie provinces

The three Prairie provinces adopted a system based on Ontario's with

a dominant Protestant system, and smaller Catholic ones. In 1891,

however Manitoba moved to eliminate the Catholic board s arkin

the Manitoba Schools Question. Eventually the Catholic school system

in that province was merged with the Protestant one. British Columbia

established a non-sectarian school s stem in 1872.



Residential School System

The Canadian residential school system consisted of a number of

schools for Aboriginal children, operated during the 20th century by

churches of various denominations about sixt er cent b Roman

Catholics, and thirty per cent by the Protestants) and funded under the

Indian Act by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, a branch of the

federal overnment. The schools' ur ose was accordin to the IndianAct, to "civilize" aboriginals, teach them English or French, convert

them to Christianity, and end their traditional ways of life.



Private Schools

About 8% of students are in private schools. A minority of these are

elite private schools. These schools are attended by only a small

fraction of students but do have a reat deal of resti e and

prominence. It is not unusual for the wealthy and prominent in Canada

to send their children to public schools, especially in the lower grades.

A far lar er ortion of rivate schools are reli ious based institutions.Private schools are also used to study outside the country. For

example CCI has an Ontario curriculum, but the students study in Italy.



Private Schools

Private schools have historically been less common on the Canadian

Prairies and were often forbidden under municipal and provincial

statutes enacted to rovide e ualit of education to students

regardless of family income. This is especially true in Alberta, where

successive Social Credit (or populist conservative) governments

denounced the conce t of rivate education as the main cause ofdenial of opportunity to the children of the working poor. These rules

lasted longer than Social Credit; it was only in 1989 that private K-

of Calgary.



Today

Over time, the originally Protestant school boards of English Canada,

known as the public schools, became increasingly secularized as

Canadians came to believe in the se aration of Church and state and

the main boards became secular ones. In Ontario all overt religiosity

was removed from the public school system in 1990. In two provinces

the sectarian education s stems have recentl been eliminated throu hconstitutional change. Newfoundland, after a close and controversial

referendum, eliminated its multiple school boards, merging them into a

replaced with a French language/English language one.



As in all immigrant societies, the spread of formal education in

Canada followed a predictable pattern as religious orders and

missions attem ted to "civilize" both the abori inal and the settler

communities. All levels of formal education from the seventeenth

century onward had their roots in Catholicism, Anglicanism, and after

1763 when the British assumed control a whole ran e of rotestantdenominations.



Canadian educational history passed through several stages:

1700s to mid 1800s: church-controlled education

s: a more centra ze aut or ty, un versa ree

education, and taxation at the local level

Late 1800s to 1900: the creation of provincial departments ofeducation, a more consistent curriculum, better trained teachers,

continued local taxation together with provincial grants

Education in each province and provincial governments playingan increasingly significant role in the shaping of policy and



There is among the Canadian public an overarching belief in the

moral rightness of a public education system. This system is based onthe historical comin -to ether of three distinct models: the En lish

grammar school, the French parish school, and the United Empire

Loyalist belief in local governance.

With regard to public education, Canadians subscribe to three

common social and educational values: equality of access, equality of

opportunity, and cultural pluralism.



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