Poor students fare well in Canada: study

PARIS – Roughly four in 10 Canadian students from disadvantaged families "beat the odds" by doing exceptionally well at school despite their socio-economic background, according to a study released Friday.

Canada ranked seventh in the world in the study of science scores done by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, behind only China (students in three regions were analyzed), South Korea, Singapore, Finland, Japan and Turkey.

The study, based on the OECD’s 2009 test scores, found that 39 per cent of Canadian students from disadvantaged families tested exceptionally well on their math, science and reading skills.

This percentage of students deemed "resilient" put Canada well ahead of the OECD average of 31 per cent, and clearly above countries such as France (30 per cent), the United States (29 per cent), Britain (24 per cent) and Germany (23 per cent).

OECD analyst Pablo Zoido said the strong showing reflects Canada’s relatively strong education system functioning within a relatively equitable society.

"This is a nice combination," Zoido told Postmedia News.

"You have a good education system, and the relationship between socio-economic background and performance is particularly weak in Canada."

The study determined that self-confidence, and adequate class time, played key roles in resiliency.

Educators must, therefore, play an active role to encourage resiliency.

"They could start by providing more opportunities for disadvantaged students to learn in class by developing activities, classroom practices and teaching methods that encourage learning and foster motivation and self-confidence among students," the report said.

"High-quality mentoring programs, for example, have been shown to be particularly beneficial. Focusing these activities on disadvantaged students is crucial, as they are the student who are least likely to receive this support elsewhere."