Canada Improves Education Performance

An annual research reported that Canada's overall educational performance has risen to trail only Finland in quality, but warned that there were still many gaps that needed to be addressed.

The annual study by the Conference Board of Canada gave the education system an "A" grade for 2009, up from 2008's grade of "B." And while Finland remains the leader, the gap has closed considerably. Brenda LaFleur, the lead researcher, said, "Governments at all levels have made concerted efforts to improve the education level of the general population." The best news came in the form of high school graduates at 86.6 percent, a full percentage point in the positive. That was a huge jump compared to the leaders, the United States, who checked in with a 0.1 percent increase. However, the Canadian system lacks in two areas that are stereotypically known as strengths, math and science. And although there was a year-to-year increase in grade, it was only a "C." This goes against the belief that Canada's private sector is a leader for technical innovation. Even more troubling was the news about PhD graduates, a number that has decreased over time. Meanwhile, Sweden produced 3.5 times more PhD grads. In the 2009 federal budget, $2 billion was invested into infrastructure, with a heavy focus on building and maintaining research facilities. However, the majority of research innovation remains in academia - a strange coincidence considering 2/3rds of Canadian PhD grads venture into the private sector. Included in the paradoxical report of good and bad was the news about poor adult literacy rates, which estimate nearly 7 million Canadians having poor literacy skills.

Conference Board research shows that both areas in which Canada falls short will continue to become bigger issues, since they affect the ability of the country to improve innovation, productivity, and competitiveness and to deal with a changing labour market.

The study has been conducted each year since 1996.