Public Education in Canada: Facts, Trends and Attitudes

With this report, CEA provides a context for rethinking schools to drive dialogue and critical thinking about the challenges we face in educating all students to take their place in a world of dynamic social, technological and economic change.

Key findings from CEA’s Public Attitudes Toward Education Survey are contained in this report. This is CEA’s fourth such survey and is based on the opinions of over 2,400 Canadians collected between January and May 2007. Commentaries from educational leaders based on these survey results help provide a context to issues such as student assessment, confidence in school systems, and educational change.

In addition to the survey results, this report contains a collective picture of education in Canada, with an overview of our education systems, a summary of key public school indicators and a brief outline of trends in educational reform.

Download the report

• Public Education in Canada: Facts, Trends and Attitudes (PDF - 383 KB)
• Public Attitudes Toward Education in Canada – Summary of Findings (PDF - 316 KB)
• Press Release (PDF - 39 KB)

Table of Contents

1. Foreward
2. Public Education in Canada
   1. Public Education Systems
   2. Trends in Educational Reform - Canadian Provinces and Territories
   3. Measuring the Success of Canada's Education System
3. Public Attitudes Toward Education in Canada -- the 2007 CEA Survey
   1. Views about education are remarkably similar across the country
   2. Satisfaction with schools is general high across Canada, but there is room for improvement
   3. Confidence in provincial government leadership for education is generally low
   4. Canadians share a strong commitment to public education
   5. Canadians have mixed views on educational change
4. Reflections on the Future of Education in Canada
5. Appendix A
6. Endnotes