Each year, under the aegis of the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada (CMEC), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the province of Quebec — along with many other state and provincial authorities — produces a set of "education indicators". These various charts, diagrams and tabulations provide comparative statistics on a wide range of elementary, secondary and college/university features and allows the current state of education in one area to be roughly and broadly compared to other jurisdictions within the same time frames
This latest collection, drawn from data collected during the 1998-1999 school year, indicates that Québec's total educational spending amounted to 15.1 billion dollars or 7.8% of gross domestic product (GDP). In anybody's language, this is a 'whack' of money and certainly deserves scrutiny.
Unfortunately, in many cases, the whole of the educational scene is treated as if it were one large amorphous entity. The specific and noticeable differences between the anglophone and francophone sectors are not delineated. This is a shame, as such specificity would have permitted the anglophone community to gauge its minority status more accurately. In any case, while it is clearly beyond the scope of this column to provide a detailed comparative and comprehensive report, the following selected highlights might offer a view into the contemporary state of education in Québec.
Retention & Failure:
Notwithstanding the boastful claim that Québec allocates more money than many other comparable jurisdictions to the total education sector as measured by GDP, a review of the data on pages 60 through to 65 shows that there are serious retention and failure rates in the public schools of Québec.
Taken as a whole, this data is disturbing. While some solace may be rightfully claimed from the data (pages 56 - 59) that indicates that many youth return to school within a few years via the night/adult sectors and do indeed gain a secondary diploma, this data clearly indicates that many students (and an overwhelming majority of young males at that) are disenchanted with the educational system.
It is true that the percentages have fallen over the last fifteen years or so from much higher numbers, but the current rates appear to be 'frozen' and, I fear, are beginning to enter the education domain as an almost acceptable "education mortality rate".
Teacher Renewal:
While precise forecasting is difficult, many anglophone school boards are predicting that 40 - 50% of their current practitioners will reach the retirement threshold over the next five or so years. Therefore, it is anticipated that a "hiring bubble" will commence as early as September 2001 as hundreds/thousands of new elementary and secondary teachers enter the system.
The information contained on pages 32 and 33 regarding teacher salaries does not bode well for the adequate replacement of these necessary front-line professionals.
Furthermore, anecdotal data from the Faculty of Education of McGill University seems to suggest that upwards of 40% of its newly certified teachers are opting for initial teaching positions outside of the province. At a recently held 'job fair', the Québec based school boards were outnumbered almost three-to-one by those from Ontario, the Western provinces, and the United States.
For days after this event, the hallways of the Faculty were alive with student talk concerning on-the-spot signed contracts, multiple job offers, signing bonuses, salary differences, living and moving subsidies, and income tax rates. The days of newly certified teachers clawing for permanent classroom positions appears to be over, and the outdated salary scales and antiquated working conditions of the Québec school milieu might not be attractive enough in this very competitive new North American teacher landscape.
Private School Enrollment:
The private school network is alive and well within the anglophone community of Québec. To a certain extent, anglophone schooling may now be viewed as a "tri-level" system with private schools at the top, public-private schools (those so-called public schools with entrance examinations, international status, academic orientations, etc.) in the middle and the sort of left over, catch-all institutions of the fully public system at the bottom. The importance of the place of private schools within the anglophone communities is clearly illustrated by the data.
On page 129, total private school enrollment in all of the French elementary and secondary schools stands at 132,138 students. Recognizing that French students account for over 85% of the total school-aged population, the English private school total of 104,226 elementary and secondary students indicates a striking renunciation of its own controlled general public sector educational system by the anglophone community.
End note:
Education Indicators is an interesting 136-page compilation to review. Broad trends are plotted, wide comparisons made, historical antecedents noted, and large figures abound. Devoid of personal narratives, intimate stories, classroom realities, and professional reflections, this data source nonetheless provides a wealth of information that takes a pulse of a particular educational heartbeat.
References:
Ministère de l'Éducation. (2000). Education Indicators: 2000 Edition. Québec: Ministère de l'Éducation. [ISBN: 2-550-35943-7].