Melissa Lambrecht - Blog 4

Blog 4: The Structure of Education in Canada

This chapter focused on the uniqueness of Canada's education system when compared to other systems on the international scale. "Canada is the only country in the world with no federal education department" (89). Instead of a national run system, Canada's education system is based on provincial and territorial jurisdictions, this system was instituted in 1867 and was developed to "protect the interests of the different populations who inhabited the particular parts of the country, as strong ethnic and religious differences existed by region" (89).

There were a few aspects of this chapter that perk my interest, one of which was the education system in Quebec. The idea of a school system that begins in pre-elementary and goes to grade 11 only, was a different education system from ours in Manitoba. Not only does school in Quebec end at grade 11 but they do not follow a grade system at all, but a system of three cycles. I thought it was an interesting concept of allowing students and teachers a two year timeframe instead of specific learning outcomes for each subject over the course of the year. It reminded me of a multi-aged classroom in some regards because you would have two "grades" in one and also allows for children to master learning outcomes as they approach them without needing to be at grade level to learn a concept. This was my experience in a multi-aged classroom, I was able to learn at my own pace and be challenged as needed, much like the Quebec system of primary and secondary cycles. However, I found it rather bizarre that "post-secondary institutions in Quebec require two years of pre-university preparatory college or three years of professional/trade program" (92). If the number of years of primary and secondary school were shortened by one year, 12 instead of 13, but required 2 to 3 additional years of study before one could enter university, this seems to me a step backward. Does the Quebec system not enable students to enter post-secondary education? I was left to question whether our system of education or the Quebec system was a better medium for students, especially as it relates to when one can enter post-secondary institutions.

The section on international and offshore schools was another topic of interest to me. I have the privilege of meeting a professor who has taught internationally in one of these discussed schools in Egypt during our sessions in SAGE in October. This school, located in Cairo, is an English speaking school that follows the Manitoba provincial curriculum and employs teachers with Manitoba teacher's certifications. Much like the schools mentioned in the text, graduates from this school in Cairo can pursue post-secondary studies in Canada because they meet the requirements of Canadian universities. I also had the privilege of meeting a student from Egypt who had taken schooling based on the Manitoba curriculum (I am not sure if he attended the school in Cairo). He was in his second year of medical school in Canada and would be a certified Canadian doctor when he completed the program.

After reading the section on vocational school I was left wondering why the faculty of education is not considered a vocational school. From the text we are told that "vocational training generally refers to a multi-year program of study that provides instruction in a skill or trade a student to a job in that particular skill or trade" (117). It also requires workplace-based apprenticeship programs and a training span, which requires a specified number of hours in training/practice. This sounds to me like the 8-9 weeks per semester we spend studying at the university and the 12 weeks that we are at practicum. Correct me if I'm wrong but there seem to be many similarities.

Discussion Question:

Based on what we have read in this chapter, is there one provincial school system that appears to benefit students in their education? Should the education system in Canada be federally controlled using one uniform system?