Canada falling behind in education according to report

In March 2010 the Canadian Council on Learning told Parliament that their goal was to provide decision-makers with the information they need to develop effective approaches to learning.

A report released today by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) found that Canada is falling behind on important areas of learning. Taking Stock of Lifelong Learning in Canada (2005-2010): Progress or Complacency? reviews the current education system across Canada from early childhood to adult education. The CCL is the only national organization that reports to Canadians on education. "In 2006, when the Government of Canada declared an ambition for the country to build the "Knowledge Advantage" necessary for success in the global economy, CCL commended it as an important step," Dr. Paul Cappon, President and CEO of CCL stated in a press release. "However, as our report shows, by continuing to fall behind in some key areas of learning, Canada may be creating a national knowledge disadvantage. Unlike Canada, competitor countries have developed, or are in the process of developing, coordinated approaches to education and lifelong learning. " Canadian education prior to post-secondary learning has one of the lowest nation investments among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Lacking the measures nationally that provide an understanding of quality, access, financing and policy Canada could soon be losing their edge in international testing. At this time Canadian secondary schools have been getting consistently high results on those tests in reading, science and math. That said other countries have been making rapid advances. Parents in Canada are prepared to make sacrifices to ensure their children's education is competitive according to the report. There are more post-secondary students in Canada but the nation has not a single measurable national goal, benchmark, or assessment of achievement for any phase of education. When it comes to the demands of a knowledge-based global economy, almost half of adult Canadians lack the prose-literacy skills needed to cope. This is despite the fact that Canada is one of the world's top school-educationed populations. According to the report on the prose- and document-literacy scales, 42% of Canadian adults—about 9 million Canadians—performed below the internationally accepted minimum considered necessary to succeed in today’s economy and society. It is predicted that the rates of adult literacy will stagnate until 2031. While Canada has improved education at the Masters level the nation lags OECD nations at the doctoral level. The nation has a low ranking when it comes to graduates in science and engineering, fields that are key to national productivity. When it comes to workplace education Canada has a poor record in comparison to other OECD nations with little improvement over the past two decades. The reports pains a dismal picture for Aboriginal learning. Often the primary goal is to focus only on high-school graduation and not post-secondary education as a goal of success. Non-Aboriginal youth in Canada are three times more likely to complete a high-school diploma than Aboriginal youth, and almost five times more likely than Inuit and First Nations living on-reserve. CCL has been working in partnership with Aboriginal learning experts to develop a better approach to measuring the learning success of First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The resulting framework is known as the Holistic Lifelong Learning Measurement Framework. "This report is intended to provide more than a summation of CCL's research and analysis over the past five years. It also offers an opportunity to translate the rhetoric of lifelong learning into action," says Cappon. "There still remains time for Canada to establish the conditions required for success in the future. Will we seize that opportunity?"