Originally Posted by Stuarty

Presuming that we complete immigration by September this year (AOR 7/10/04) my our sons will be 13 and 15 when we go to Alberta, Edmonton area. My eldest son will be due to start 5th year having completed his Standard grades (Scotland). We have been advised that as his birthday is in December we would be better putting him into a year behind to give him more time to adjust to the new system. Any advice out there?!
Stu & Fiona

Originally Posted by jlw

On a personal level, I have never seen such illiteracy in my life as I have teaching in a secondary school in the UK. It seems anyone with money sends their kids to private schools (like the politicians that make all the decisions). Can't say I blame them. It isn't like that in Canada.

Originally Posted by dbd33

In our office, twelve children between us, I am the only parent who sent his children to a publicly funded school. We elected to go with the public system because, by declaring the children to be francophone Catholics, we could get them into an elite school.

Originally Posted by jlw

The cut-off for entering children in school is December 31st, therefore if you have a child born in December, they are the youngest of the year group. Many parents choose to hold their children back for this reason. My mom is a teacher and she did that to my younger sister. You are in a different situation as your children are obviously not starting school.

Scotland is very progressive compared to England in terms of education. You may find that your child does not have any issues fitting in to the year group he or she should be in. If I were you, I would have my children assessed before making that decision. The school's special education/enrichment teacher should be able to that. There are tests called the CCAT (Canadian Cognitive and Abilities Tests) that should be able to give you a good idea where your children sit in terms of Canadian grades. You wouldn't want your child to be bored and repeating the same learning! :)

Originally Posted by Helen Parnell

Originally Posted by Stuarty

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In Alberta I have found it very common for parents to put their child a year behind. This is when they are just five years old and Mum doesn't want them to be the youngest in the class. I am an August Birthday and so is my son and we had no choice in England but to be the youngest. It didn't bother me or my son, we sucked it up and had birthday parties in the garden or at the outdoor swimming pool.

When we moved here my son was in year 5 in England but to be with his correct grade moved to grade 4 for 3 months and then did grade 5 again starting in the September. I must admit that he didn't do much work in grade 5 to get 99% average, but he is a smart kid and only does a small amount of work now to get 92% average. BUT he is happy to be with his age group, by coincidence all his friends are all born in August and all the same age, they will all start to drive together, they will all graduate together, and can all go for drink together when they are 18. If you put your children the grade behind just remember that simple things like going for a drink at 18 he will not be able to do until his friends turn 18 (the drinking laws are 100 times stricter than in England, not 18, then you can not get into a bar)

An earlier thread complained that the youth in Canada are not as mature. You know what I agree. Kids in Canada are kids!! A friend had a daughter who came over at 14. First few weeks at school, wore all the really trendy, designer clothes. By October, realised that her friends just worn jeans and tee shirt every day. Of course the youth do eventually mature but in their own time, they are allowed to develop and not be old and mature before they reach 12 years of age.

Originally Posted by jlw

As you are well aware, Alberta is dripping of oil money. In many cases they have social programs in the schools that other provinces could only dream of.

Originally Posted by dbd33

Are you sure about this ? I thought the Alberta government was philosophically opposed to using oil revenues for social programs. Certainly Judy's posts suggest that the school system is less well funded now than in decades past. Do you have something specific in mind ?

Originally Posted by jlw

Alberta's schools are better off than those in Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

Originally Posted by jlw

I am a teacher in London and have been teaching in the UK for 5 years. I grew up in the Canadian school systems and taught in them for 4 years before coming to the UK.

I disagree that the Canadian school systems are more competitive. I also disagree that the standards are lower. There is very clear evidence on many levels to support this statement as well:

1. If you want to know where countries stand in terms of literacy and numeracy on an international level, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is the world's watchdog. If you would like to see the nitty-gritties, go to www.oecd.org, click on "topic", then "education", followed by "statistics". You will find an informative chart that compares
countries in terms of student performance, adult education, etc. To save you the hassle, I can tell you that the UK does poorly in comparison to Canada (and many other countries, I might add). You also have to look at results from a few years back as the UK refused to hand in recent data last year and were heavily criticized for it both locally and abroad. It was the only country that failed to do so, likely because the state of education is not improving. The UK has many things to offer, but an excellent education system is not one!

2. In Britain, school funding is based on "value added" scores. In other words, how well your school is doing in terms of national test results. We teach to the test. Students that are 7,11, and 15 sit these exams and spend the entire year being "taught the test". Not well rounded education, I can tell you! The stress these children go under is enormous. I was never subjected to any of that in my day, nor did I have to teach in that environment. There is some standardised testing in Canada, however the results are not linked to school funding. They are used to simply monitor progress or flag weaknesses.

3. When I applied to teach in the UK, I had to provide my grades from both University and secondary school. What I found interesting is that the General Teaching Council took my grade 10 marks in maths, science and english to be the equivalent of GCSE completions (equivalent of grade 11 in the UK). What does this suggest?!

On a personal level, I have never seen such illiteracy in my life as I have teaching in a secondary school in the UK. It seems anyone with money sends their kids to private schools (like the politicians that make all the decisions). Can't say I blame them. It isn't like that in Canada.

I really enjoy living in London and adore the culture and history here. The proximity to Europe is fantastic as well. However, knowing what I know, I will go back to Canada to have kids.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Juliew

Hi there,

I am also a Canadian (BC) teaching in a school in Tunbridge Wells and I agree with all of your comments.

I (and every foreign teacher in my school) am completely shocked by the level of literacy and behaviour in the school that I teach. I also know that my school is not unusual based my conversations with other teachers. I believe that quality of education in the UK varies considerably and those that have money can afford a decent education. Given this, when looking at International results I believe that they need to examine the bottom 25%. This would tell all.

I also believe that the obsession with testing and ranking schools is one of the greatest problems in the UK education system. My subject area does quite well in the GCSE exams. However what a waste of time that exam is. I spend at least 6 to 7 months in Year 11 teaching students how to write an exam; not a useful skill in my opinion. These student could be learning much more useful and practical information then practicing the same question over and over again. They could be learning how to read.

Just my thoughts

Originally Posted by Juliew

Hi there,

I am also a Canadian (BC) teaching in a school in Tunbridge Wells and I agree with all of your comments.

I (and every foreign teacher in my school) am completely shocked by the level of literacy and behaviour in the school that I teach. I also know that my school is not unusual based my conversations with other teachers. I believe that quality of education in the UK varies considerably and those that have money can afford a decent education. Given this, when looking at International results I believe that they need to examine the bottom 25%. This would tell all.

Just my thoughts

Originally Posted by dingbat

Now I'm worried again. Last time I went back (2001?) my kids were academically so behind their UK counterparts I was very concerned as to how they would compare in the job market for the future. Having done a Canadian degree and a UK one, the standard for the degree in Canada was, in my opinion, much much lower. However, I can only compare my own schooling...maybe there has been huge deterioration in UK standards since I left school in the eighties?

Originally Posted by dingbat

...maybe there has been huge deterioration in UK standards since I left school in the eighties?