Newone

Hi everyone!
found this forum a very interesting for myself. My husband is Canadian, moved from Canada years ago, but always wanted to go back. We've started thinking about relocating (hmmm .....he's started ) I’ve never been in Canada and going to visit country next spring. I had a lot of questions before, but found a few answers on this forum now – great!
Still can’t find anything about Canadian educational system. Our youngest son is now at grade 9 here in UK (age 14 y/o) . He is now in Catholic school - we are not too religious, just this school is a very good one, on the top of the list in our area.
Does Canadian school system the same as in UK or there are some differences or this is completely different?
How did you find school education in comparison with UK?
Thanks

iaink

There are some basics here

Ontario still maintains a seperate public catholic school board.

My view is that education here is more focussed on churning out well balanced individuals than automatons trained in passing exams in order to make a school look better in the all important league tables.

Canada consistantly does pretty well in international comparisons of literacy / numeracy.

skigordi

I agree with Iaink from our experience in the last year.

Schools are well funded and staffed (certainly in our region) and perhaps less focussed on pure academic standards. They follow a broad curriculum with a strong emphasis on individuals and fun. My 11 year old daughter has found it less stimulating...but my 8 year old son has thrived here and loves school much more than he ever did in the UK.

At the end of the day Canada produces world class doctors, engineers and lawyers and has top class universities....they may approach education slightly differently but the results are certainly there.

Newone

Thank you for reply. It sounds good!
I had just a quick look on the link about school system - will read carefully tonight.

Tiaribbon

My daughter was 8 when her and I moved here. Academically, her Canadian school was a million miles behind her UK school. A year on, and her school is still a thousand miles behind the education she was receiving in the UK. She has always loved going to school and she certainly always appears happy when I collect her at the end of her day..........however she has started not wanting to go to school recently (a first for her) - she says that she isn't learning anything; and looking at her homework, I think she could be right.

When we moved here, she was assessed at 2 years above her age-group but I felt that she should remain within her peer-group as my husband still lives in the UK and she was leaving her older brothers, grandparents etc so I thought she could have an easy ride for a year. Not sure now though whether I did the right thing .

In my opinion, the Canadian educational system is far inferior to the UK one on an academical level - I can't really agree with the comments about "the Canadian schools producing far more well-rounded individuals" as her school in the UK had a very positive view of producing free-thinking and free-spirited girls.

I like the school here, but I really do hope they start to stimulate her before she gets completely fed up!

Oh and my other bug-bear over here is ........ French! They teach Quebecois French which I have no problems with, but because she already learned a lot of proper French, they have been teaching her French that is grammatically incorrect and would make no sense in France! Now again this is fine....but in my opinion they shouldn't be telling her off for speaking French correctly!!!

Steve_P

Why don't ask the school to assess your daughter and perhaps get her teachers to help her instead of just hoping they will do something. Get involved others do.

If as you say they are teaching Quebecois French then your daughter is speaking it incorrectly. You do have to keep in mind that you did move to Canada not France.

Tiaribbon

I know but the only recourse I would have would be for her to move up a year and I really want her to remain with children her own age......she is already the youngest child in her class.

Yes you are right - I had never thought of it like that. However we do go to France and are more likely to continue going to France more often than Quebec and my preference would be for her to continue learning French French. As I say, I don't have a big issue with her ALSO learning Quebecois French but it does irritate me that they reprimand her for speaking it, in my mind anyway, correctly.

Remya

Just out of curiosity, what kind of things have they been teaching her that are grammatically incorrect?

Steve_P

But there is no reason why they can't have either the classroom teacher or perhaps a specialist give your daughter more challenging material that covers the same topics as the other kids but in perhaps slightly more depth. Just a thought.


I do understand your frustation but look at it this way she is going to be understood in France way better than me who can't speak French. She will just have a different accent. Sort of like an Londoner going to Manchester or Liverpool, it's all English but you'd never believe it sometimes.

iaink

I was lead to believe that the public school system here does teach proper Parisian french...if only to piss of the separatists.

I wouldnt be too afraid to send her up a year, its really not that unusual here. As an example, my bosses daughter graduated highschoool and moved onto the RMC at 16 and graduated at 19. By the time she's my age she will be able to retire from the Canadian forces with a full (Captains?, perhaps Majors) pension!

Must be nice

ross&carolyn

I have found the schools on the whole very good here.

In Calgary they have normal run of the mill schools and then schools that specialize in different ways of learning like the science school, montessori,all girls and the creative arts school my son goes to. The facilities are fantastic, separate dance studio,drama studio and art studio. He gets to sing, dance ,act ,play the drums,learn journalism,garage band. He wouldn't have anything like this in the UK without paying for it!

I find my daughters school is probably a bit slower paced but I suppose they are at school longer here so maybe thats why??

hot wasabi peas

Canada also produces neurotic, messed up, people who, on their third year of a mid-life crisis, continue to flounder through life with no direction or sense of purpose because they just do not know how to be or want to be grown ups. Not that I know anyone like that personally!

Newone

Glad to see so many replies and different opinions. Thank you all! It’s a real help .

What about foreign languages? Do Canadians children learn other foreign languages in school except French? Do they have schools that specialize in languages? In UK it’s very popular now to learn 2-3 foreign languages. Our son has been learning French and Spanish for 2 years in school here and very good in it, he would like to continue doing languages in Canadian school.

Tiaribbon, what do teachers mean when they say something incorrect in your daughter’s French? Was it just accent or something like difference in spelling or something else?

By the way, guys, did your kids have any difficulties in school with difference in spelling between Canadian and British English? Like English spelling “favoUrite” and American “favorite”, English “coloUr” and American “color”,

What about bulling because of English accent or something else? It seems that almost any school in UK got that kind of problems . It’s every day on TV, different stories and some are really shocked.

Fortunate

Hi Ya Newone,

I'm actually a Canadian that has recently moved to the UK. I had concerns coming to the UK for education as you do for going to Canada. My child is 15, so about the same age as yours. Just wanted to let you know that I was concerned that maybe my child would be behind the kids in the UK system ... however, the good news is that she is well advanced and this is in the Independent System. She is in a very reputable well known school. We are thrilled that the Canadian system (Ontario) obviously prepared her well for this transfer. She is coming home with perfect marks on all mathematics and science tests for year 10. I assure you, you should have no concerns about the Canadian education system.

hot wasabi peas

When I was French immersion (in public school) we were taught various kinds of French, the differences between Parisian French and le québécois (and all the regional dialects in Québéc) as well as Acadian French, Cajun, as well as some stuff about the French spoken in parts of the prairies, Africa, the Caribbean, SE Asia etc.... I remember definitely being taught Parisian French as a sort of formal base but during conversations, presentations or any situation dealing with people we generally used le québécois.