Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, Issue #18, December 30, 2000. © by CJEAP and the author(s).

The Flight of the Middle Class from Public Schools: A Canadian Mirage

Dr. Tim Goddard, Faculty of Education, University of Calgary

Introduction

This article is a revised version of a paper I was asked to prepare for the International Scholars’ Breakfast held during the recent University Council for Educational Administration conference (Goddard, 2000). I was asked to provide a Canadian perspective on the flight of the middle class from the public school system. This I was happy to do.

As a self-confessed news junkie, I had been inundated with stories of burgeoning private schools, multitudes of charter alternatives, and the like. I was certain that this paper would provide me with the opportunity to deliver a clear exposé of the problems facing Canadian public schools as they struggle to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse public. As I began to research the topic further, however, I began to feel rather a fraud. In Canada, the flight of the middle class from the public to the private system is an issue worthy of Don Quixote. There is, in essence, no such issue. That is not to say that we do not have private schools in Canada, nor that there are not many vocal proponents of such schools. Rather, it appears that most Canadians would rather fix the current system than flee it for another.

In this article I first provide an overview of the governance of Canadian education. I then describe five versions of private education found across the country. Following a review of the enrolment of students outside the public system, I present a discussion of the alternate strategies used by Canadians in their quest to facilitate the educational success of their children. Although I have tried to draw my examples from across Canada, the governance of education in Canada is a provincial rather than a national affair. Thus, there is no certainty that laws or regulations similar to those of one province will be found in other provinces or territories. Because Alberta is the context with which I am most familiar, the majority of the examples cited here are drawn from that province.

Context: The governance of Canadian education

As a result of Section 93 of the British North America Act, 1867 (later re-enacted as the Constitution Act, 1867), education in Canada is maintained as an area of provincial responsibility and control. With the exception of the education of First Nations children, the federal government has no legislated role in the K-12 educative process.

In some provinces, such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, laws that were in place when they joined confederation permitted communities to establish "public and dissentient separate schools" (Levin & Young, 1998, p. 30) which are funded from the public purse. That is, schools based on the dominant minority religion of the area could have separate governance systems within a funding formula common to that of the public system. Thus, in predominantly Protestant (usually Anglican) communities, a minority of Roman Catholic parents could establish a separate school in which to educate their children (e.g., Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 1, [http://www.cssd.ab.ca/]). The converse is also true, thus in central Alberta the St. Albert Protestant Separate School District No. 6 [http://www.pschools.st-albert.ab.ca/] was created in a community where the majority of parents professed the Roman Catholic faith. In other provinces, such as Manitoba and British Columbia, the public school system was established and is maintained as being strictly non-denominational. In such provinces, parents must seek private schools if they wish their children to receive a religious based education.

In Newfoundland, which did not join Canada until 1949, five different religious school systems existed until the late 1990s. In 1997 the government of Newfoundland and Labrador enacted legislation to dissolve all these systems and establish one single secular school system in the province (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2000). This action was taken for primarily financial reasons and faced fierce resistance from the churches. After two referenda, the government prevailed.

There is no national governing body for education in Canada, although the government has been known to use economic incentives to target and promote various educational initiatives. Two examples would be the thrust towards science and technology in the 1960s, and towards official bilingualism through the establishment of French Second Language and French Immersion programs in the 1970s (Tompkins, 1986). In response to fears that the national government was attempting to increase its influence over education, the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) was established by the provinces in the late 160s. This body has no legislated authority and can only take action when there is unanimity among its members (Levin & Young, 1998, p. 52). As a result, CMEC has had little direct impact on the educational landscape in Canada. The whole gamut of educational policy, as it refers to both public and private schools, remains an area of provincial jurisdiction.

What is a Private School in Canada?

If a private school is defined as one that operates outside of the provincially funded and governed school system, then there exist a number of different varieties. In this section of the paper are described five of the most common opportunities for a Canadian child to receive an education outside of the public system.

First, there are the religious schools. In many provinces these are excluded from the public system as a result of the terms of Section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867. They may be private schools that operate in provinces, such as Manitoba, where the public system is strictly non-denominational. Or, they may be schools that operate according to the tenets of faiths outside the mainstream Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. These include Jewish and Islamic schools as well as those operated by the Mormon and other Christian communities. Parents whose children attend such religious schools are often required to pay fees for service to those schools. The parents are not, however, exempted from paying school taxes towards the maintenance and operation of the public education system.

Second, there are First Nations schools. These are excluded from the public system as a result of the various Treaties signed between First Nations and the Government of Canada during the late 1800s. Thus, in treaty 6 it is stated that "Her Majesty agrees to maintain schools for instruction in such reserves hereby made" (Morris, 1880/1991, p. 353). Treaty 7 notes that "Her Majesty agrees to pay the salary of such teachers to instruct the children of said Indians as to her Government of Canada may seen advisable" (p. 371). These and similar clauses have been interpreted to mean that the federal government is responsible for the education of First Nations children.

The Indian Act reinforced the trust relationship between the First Nations and the government, and proscribed that responsibility for the education of Aboriginal peoples on reserve lay in the hands of the Sovereign, as expressed through her government in Canada (Government of Canada, 1989, sections 114 to 119). Funding for Band schools is provided by the federal government and administered by the Chief and Council of the First Nation. As education is considered a treaty right, parents do not pay fees or taxes to support their school. If non-Band members attend a First Nations school, or Aboriginal students attend a school off-reserve, then tuition agreements are developed between the local public school board and the Band.

Third, there are the independent private schools modeled on the British public school, where parents pay annual tuition fees in order for their children to attend. In Alberta, these schools are founded as private businesses and operate under the terms of section 22 of the School Act (Government of Alberta, 1988). There are two types of private schools in Alberta. First, there are accredited private schools, which must follow the Alberta Program of Studies and employ certified teachers. Students in an accredited private school can earn credits towards an Alberta graduation diploma. The schools are monitored by Alberta Learning and may receive provincial general revenue if they are operated by a non-profit society or corporation. Second, there are registered private school, which do not have to offer the Alberta Program of Studies or employ certified teachers. Although monitored by Alberta Learning, these schools are not funded by the Government of Alberta and students cannot earn credits towards an Alberta graduation diploma (Alberta Learning, 2000).

There are many independent schools across the country, each of which attempts to establish or define a niche not met by the public school system (Our Kids, 2000). What is common to many, however, are that they stress the small class sizes and individualized instruction available to their students. Such arrangements are possible because fee levels can be manipulated in order to meet organizational needs.

Fourth, there are charter schools. These are essentially schools that have been established to meet the needs of a specific population and yet which operate under provincial legislation. Although existing in a number of American states, in the Canadian context these schools were first developed, and currently only exist, in Alberta. Here charter schools were established under the auspices of the School Amendment Act of 1994 (Alberta Education, 1995). They are defined as "autonomous public schools which would provide innovative or enhanced means of delivering education to improve student learning (p. 1). It should be noted that in law these schools operate as public schools and are not permitted to restrict enrolment to certain groups of students. In practice, however, there are some indications that charters are being written in such a way as to target specific populations.

In Alberta, there is some concern that "the experiment with school choice in the form of charter schools [is] already starting to show serious cracks" (Froese-Germain, 1998, p. 24). The charter schools in Alberta must receive approval from the local school board and be subject to oversight arrangements from that board. As Levin and Young (1999) observe, although charter schools do offer parents a choice of school, this is within limits set and controlled by the provincial government. These limits are often considered restrictive by parents who desire an untrammeled choice in education.

Finally, there are those parents who choose to home school their children in an environment totally separate from a formal school system. Such parents have basically withdrawn from the public system and yet are unwilling, or unable, to send their children to organized alternative settings. The programs they develop must be acceptable to the Minister under the terms of section 23 of the School Act (Government of Alberta, 1988).

It should be noted that the voucher system, as practiced in some parts of the United States, is not currently found in Canada. However, this is likely to change. As Robertson (1998) observed, "the history of Canadian education fails to turn up a single example of a significant American education trend, from new math to open-area classrooms, that Canadian schools successfully avoided" (p. 256). AS shown in Ontario (Dehli, 1998) there appears to be a growing segment of the population that is arguing for a voucher system or similar market-driven forms of schooling.

Enrolment in Private Schools

Although private schools do exist in Canada, they attract only a small percentage of the population. Such schools are monitored annually and must meet provincial requirements with respect to the program taught, certification requirement for teachers, and so forth (Alberta Education, 1990).

That there has been a growth in enrolment outside the public system is indisputable; however, this growth is indicative more of a growth in population than in any great exodus from the public system. In Alberta, enrolment in private schools has increased slowly from 1.7% of the total school aged population in 1980/1981 to 4.2% in 1990/1991 (Alberta Education, 1992), and remains roughly the same today (Alberta Education, 1998). As the number of students outside the public system increases, so perceptions develop that an increasing proportion of parents are abandoning public education. This is patently not the case.

Although the number o students may be increasing on an absolute basis, the percentage of students enrolled in private schools in Canada is constant at around the vie per cent level (Keane, 1989; Levin & Young, 1998). On a provincial level enrolment varies greatly, from a low of 1.6% in Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan Education, 1990) to a high of 10% in Quebec (Levin & Young, 1998). Even in Alberta, the "home" of the charter school movement in Canada, enrolment in private schools is maintained at around 4% (Alberta Education, 1998). There remains a sense of elitism associated with private schools and, as such, many Canadian middle class parents appear not to feel comfortable with these institutions.

Alternative Strategies

For many middle class Canadians, addressing the concerns about the education their children are receiving in the public school system does not seem to involve selection of private schools. Rather, parents with means are choosing to enroll their children in private tutoring centres (Fine, 2000). Fine reports that, according to CMEC, approximately 10% of students are taking an hour or more per week of additional schools lessons or tutoring for science. Such supplemental learning programs are becoming increasingly popular.

It is apparent that Canadians are generally content with the notion of a public school education. There is not the overwhelming sense of urgency towards private education that might be sensed in other countries. There are certain families, who tend to be of a certain socio-economic class, whose children follow their ancestors’ footsteps and attend prestigious private schools. For the majority of the middle class this is not considered an option.

Public schools in Canada have addressed the needs of middle class parents by providing a range of options within the ‘regular’ educational system. For example, the provision of French Immersion programs, Advanced Placement courses, and the International Baccalaureate helps meet the needs of those who feel that their children require a competitive edge in order to advance to university. In Calgary there are schools with a creative and fine arts focus, and others that offer English as a second language, work experience, and many other programs that address the full spectrum of learners’ interests and needs (Calgary Board of Education, 2000).

Parents and educators alike are concerned about large class sizes, about the under-funding of education in provincial budgets, and about the difficulty of recruiting teachers in certain specialty subjects. For most parents, however, the solution is to press for more funding for public schools and for greater degrees of choice within the public system. In a large school division such as Calgary, parents are provided with these choices. In smaller schools systems where they are not, then parents are taking matters into their own hands and purchasing supplemental services after school hours. As such, the flight of the middle class is not as extreme as might be sometimes portrayed in the media.

Of great interest to Canadian parents and educators appears to be the issue of funding. Should there be public funding of private education? In some provinces, notably Alberta and Ontario, there are politically right-wing governments that are more willing to explore free-market options in education than other, more liberal, provinces. In this the provincial governments find support from like-minded entities, for "among the proponents of school choice in Canada are right-wing think-tanks such as the Fraser Institute and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies" (Froese-Germain, 1998, p. 24). It is within these provinces that a voucher system, should it ever work in Canada, will first be located.

There is among the Canadian public an overarching belief in the moral rightness of a public education system. This system is based on the historical coming-together of three distinct models: the English grammar school, the French parish school, and the United Empire Loyalist belief in local governance (see Tomkins, 1986, pp. 11-24, for a full discussion). As such, it is a distinctly Canadian system of which the options that will lead to the cultural and economic assimilation of Canada. In that context, the biggest perceived plus of the Canadian system is simply that it is not American, that it does not reflect American practice, and that there are at least the vestiges of it being driven by pedagogical rather than economic imperatives.

References

Alberta Education. (1998). Setting a new framework: Report and recommendations of the private schools funding task force. Edmonton, AB: Author.

Alberta Education. (1995). Charter school handbook (Draft 10 31 94). Edmonton, AB: Queen’s Printer.

Alberta Education. (1992). Education in Alberta: Facts and figures, 1991. Edmonton, AB: Minister of Education.

Alberta Education. (1990). Private schools handbook. Edmonton, AB: Minister of Education.

Alberta Learning. (2000). School choice. On-line. [Available] http://www.learning.gov.ab.ca/educationsystem/choices.asp

Goddard, J. T. (2000). The increasing flight of the middle class from public schools: A Canadian perspective. Paper presented for the International Scholars’ Breakfast, University Council for Educational Administration. Albuquerque, New Mexico. November.

Calgary Board of Education. (2000). Our programs. On-line. [Available] http://www.cbe.ab.ca/ss/programs/default.asp

Fine, S. (2000, October 9). Private tutoring stirs grade expectations. The Globe and Mail, p. A3.

Froese-Germain, B. (1998). What we know about school choice. Education Canada, 38 (3), 22-25.

Government of Alberta. (1988). School Act. Edmonton, AB: Queen’s Printer.

Government of Canada. (1989). Indian Act. Ottawa, ON: Minister of Supply and Services Canada.

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. (2000). Recent history of education in the province. On-line. [Available] http://www.gov.nf.ca/edu/School%20systemT.htm

Keane, F. (1989). Independent schools of British Columbia. Surrey, BC: Keane Productions Inc.

Levin, B., & Young, J. (1999). The origins of educational reform: A comparative perspective. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 12 [On-line serial]. Available: http://www.umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap

Levin, B., & Young, J. (1998). Understanding Canadian schools: An introduction to educational administration (2^nd ed.). Toronto, ON: Harcourt Brace & Co.

Morris, A., (1991). The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories including the negotiations on which they were based. Saskatoon, SK: Fifth House Publishers. (Original work published 1880).

Our Kids. (2000). Our kids go to school: The essential guide to the best education. Mississauga, ON: Author.

Robertson, H-J. (1998). No more teachers, no more books Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart.

Saskatchewan Education. (1990). Minister’s advisory board on independent schools: Final report to the minister of education, Volume 2. Regina, SK: Author.

Tomkins, G. S. (1986). A common countenance: Stability and change in the Canadian curriculum. Scarborough, ON: Prentice-Hall.