What other countries are learning from Canadian educators

TORONTO – Canadian students are among the highest performers out of 65 countries ranked in a benchmark international study. As a result, delegates from around the world have visited Canada to ask what it is that we are doing here to enjoy such success.

The test used to compare students from different countries is called the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and was developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). PISA tests reading, math and science, and has emphasized one of the three domains each time it’s been administered (every three years, starting in 2000). The 2012 results are yet to be published.

Of course, there’s no clear cut answer to why we do so well, and there are still opportunities to learn about what works for other top scoring countries.

Pasi Sahlberg is the director general of the Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) in Finland and has toured the world to speak about education, since Finns consistently perform at the top of the PISA rankings.

In an email to Globalnews.ca, Sahlberg says Canada is a model for others and shares many characteristics with strong PISA performers, such as:

-high value to teachers and how they are selected and educated
-social support and health care provided to all of their children
-control of income inequality through taxation
-relationship between children’s socioeconomic background and their learning in school is weaker than in most other countries

Ben Levin is the Canada Research Chair in Education Leadership and Policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and previously served as Deputy Minister of Education in both Ontario and Manitoba.

He says he’s entertained around 20 delegations each year from places all over the world, and traveled to many places himself to talk about the different education systems.

Levin believes Canadian educators were as surprised as anyone to learn that our system was among the best, and that we have hypotheses, but not definitive explanations, as to why our students perform so well.

Levin says one hypothesis is that Canada has implemented a system that’s focused on getting students to do better, and urging teachers to pay attention to performance.

One Ontario high school strategy has pushed educators to keep track of how many students were earning all their credits in ninth grade (something that wasn’t always recorded). Teachers then saw patterns in which courses kids were failing, and so just by recognizing who the kids were and asking what help they needed was found to improve outcomes.

Levin also emphasizes making changes in a positive way without blame, and this positive approach has made Canada unique in another area. Canada is one of a very few number of countries whose immigrant students do as well as those born here, and Levin says a positive attitude towards immigrants along with good support systems are potential factors in this finding.

Andrew Parkin, director of the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC) adds that in the context of cultural diversity, Canada’s decentralized education system works well. He believes the fact that provincial control of education allows for different responses to different types of populations contributes to Canada’s success.

Parkin also feels that our lack of early streaming is a factor in student success with PISA. He says Canada is unlike countries where fifth graders are streamed into academic or vocational programs that will decide whether they go to university or not.

University of British Columbia professor in the sociology of education Charles Ungerleider says the most important thing is the fact that we have well-prepared and well-educated teachers who are engaging learners. Levin adds that very high performing countries tend to have strong teacher unions, and Parkin agrees that our professionalized teachers are key.

In Alberta, Canada’s highest performing province on the 2009 PISA reading and science sections, the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) is a grant given to school boards to use at their discretion.

“The idea is to get innovative and think outside the box,” says president of the Alberta School Boards Association Jacquie Hansen in an email to Globalnews.ca. “Many schools zeroed in on an achievement gap, like numeracy or literacy and spent all the money on new initiatives focused of these things. Others used it for technology, others high school completion.”

Hansen says delegates from many countries have come to see the work enabled by AISI including some from Finland and China, two of the highest scoring countries.

Alberta schools also prioritize public engagement and working closely with government, the provincial teachers union, superintendents, business officials and parent association to build relationships and “foster collaboration with the focus on the student.” Hansen says education is all about relationships and the human condition.

“If we don’t have good relationships there is a good chance good work won’t be done.”