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Citizenship Education > Trends in Citizenship Education > Civics in Canada
Canada has yet to see citizenship education put on the national agenda in as substantial a way as the U.S., Australia, and Britain; but there has been considerable activity in this country as well. Education for citizenship is identified as a key goal for public education generally, and social studies education in particular, in every educational jurisdiction in Canada. There have been significant curricular initiatives in some jurisdictions as well as other educational initiatives.
- Ontario has introduced a compulsory civics course for grade 10 in both official languages.
- The British Columbia Ministry of Education has introduced an optional civics course at grade 11.
- In the fall of 2005 Alberta began implementing a new K-12 social studies curriculum that has citizenship at its heart.
- Quebec introduced a module on citizenship education within its secondary level history courses, as recommended in the report of a task force on curriculum reform Réaffirmer l'école.
- The Atlantic Provinces Educational Foundation has produced a Foundation Document for Social Studies, which views citizenship education as the central purpose of that subject, as well as a set of six Essential Graduation Learnings, one of which is citizenship.
- The British Columbia Ministry of Education has prepared a living document on Social Responsability.
Originally prepared by Professors Yvonne Hébert and Alan Sears for the Canadian Education Association, this section was revised and updated for "Focus On Educating Citizens."
