Lessons from Canada: an equal school system is possible

Australia has one of the most segregated school systems in the developed world and the problem is getting worse.

This is not good for our young people or our future prospects as a country.

In searching for solutions, it makes sense to explore how comparable countries design their school systems.

In October 2024 Australian educators and researchers visited Canada under the auspices of Leading Educators Around the Planet (LEAP) and the Australian Learning Lecture (ALL) to find out what Australia can learn about creating a school system that enhances equity, opportunity and achievement.

What was revealed is that a visit to a single comparable country can provide many possible approaches that have the potential to significantly enhance educational delivery in Australia.

Why Canada?

Australia and Canada spend similar amounts on school education and share much in common in terms of history, culture and demography. However, Canada has much lower levels of social segregation in its schools, higher levels of achievement and consistently outperforms Australia in the OECD’s PISA tests across all learning domains.

Each province in Canada has a distinct education system as the national government has no responsibility for education. This provides many lessons to learn from Canada’s range of school systems. Provinces like Ontario enable Australia to see new possibilities. Other provinces, like British Columbia and Quebec, reflect our own problems back at us, even if in less acute form.

The Australian Learning Lecture commissioned Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor to write an account of the Canadian tour and its findings.