Article appeared in the Nov 17, 2011 issue of the Interlake Spectator…
A report from the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) asks, ‘What is the future of learning in Canada’? CCL recently produced its final report, a 76 page document, warning that Canada is slipping down the international learning curve.
“We are falling behind competitor countries and economies. We are on the wrong road and must make a dramatic change in the course we are taking,” it states. “The principal cause of this unacceptable and deeply troubling state of affairs is that our governments have failed to work together to develop the necessary policies and failed to exhibit the required collective political leadership.”
CCL claims that Canada’s learning structures are the most fragmented in the world, with no national system of post secondary education. Mandates and missions in education vary across provinces and territories. The absence of national goals is cause for concern.
Trends point to Canada losing ground on a number of fronts, and if not fixed, the report states that the this might lead to a lower standard of living in Canada.
“Canada’s future prosperity depends on the strength of its learning sector and a range of complementary learning opportunities,” it states.
An aging population means that Canada is facing a decline in the availability of a knowledgeable labour force. This makes post secondary education all the more important. Canada’s labour force requirements have changed dramatically in a generation. More than ever, we need educated workers.
While the overall dropout rate has declined in Canada, literacy rates have remained unchanged. Workplace training is limited. For example, according to a 2005 survey, in the UK 90 per cent of workplaces offer training, while in Canada the figure is only 58 per cent. Poland’s rate is the lowest, at only 35 per cent.
The report also highlights some troubling trends– a slipping of international standardized test scores, boys falling behind girls, citizenship and civics underemphasized, and a dearth of apprenticeships and school-industry partnerships, to name only a few.
In addition, funding for early childhood learning is among the lowest among the developed countries, even though it has been shown conclusively that making investments in early childhood education will pay for itself many times over.
As well, children are entering school without an adequate foundation, and early childhood educators receive insufficient training, problems which only exacerbate the situation.
CCL has found that that people’s beliefs about and the actual reality of Canada’s education system are not in alignment. The report states that,
“Canadians are generally ill informed about how education and learning functions are structured and administered in their country. Most are unaware of its extreme fragmentation, and of the dysfunctional nature of federal– provincial relations in this field—and of the enormous disparity between Canada’s national educational administration and leadership and that of other countries.
Many Canadians wrongly assume that the central government has (as is the case in other countries) a significant role in policy and organization of learning. They are unaware of the great educational and training strides being achieved in other lands—and even in transnational entities like the EU—through inter-jurisdictional co-operation and harmonization.*
CCL is an independent, not-for-profit organization that was founded in 2004. The organization has dedicated itself to the enhancement of learning. It will no longer be able to operate due to a complete withdrawal of its funding by the Government of Canada in March, 2010.
