Best Practices in Canadian Education

Abstract

Educational methodologies and strategies have been a major research focus in the past thirty years in Canadian Education as globalization becomes more predominant and has an impact on how countries are pursuing education. Assessments like the international Pisa testing have provided comparisons that put pressure on countries to rise to the challenge of providing an education that is highly rated in the world. Canada has attained high ratings in these tests for the past 10 years in Reading, Mathematics and Science. Despite the fact that, in Canada, education is a provincial responsibility, there are many similarities between the provinces. Organizations such as the Council of Ministers, the Canadian Education Association and the Canadian School Boards Association regularly share information, conduct research and establish best practices and priorities in education. PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) is an assessment conducted in 65 countries and economies of 15 year old students in the areas of Reading, Mathematics, Science and Problem Solving. PISA is conducted by member countries of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). It is designed to provide indicators of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students that contribute to successful students, schools, education systems, and learning environments (Brochu et al.2013). PISA measures skills that participating countries agree are key outcomes of the educational process. The assessment focuses on young people’s ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real life. In the 2012 PISA tests Canada’s scores ranked in the top ten of the 65 countries and economies. The Canadian Curriculum places an emphasis on reading, mathematics, science and problem solving. Learning experts are generally united in their view that students require a firm foundation in literacy, numeracy and science to succeed in other subjects. Higher order thinking skills and problem solving are considered necessary skills in the 21st century (Henderson. 2008).