aged 3 seems awfully young to be travelling on a bus without an adult, even if the bigger kids look out for the little ones!

But I do remember way back when in the UK, I used to travel to my primary school by (public) bus. It stopped right outside our house (serendipity) and at the bottom of the school hill. There was a lollypop lady who helped us cross the road near the school, and my elder brothers used to go with me.

There was a sweet shop known as "Toyland" where we'd buy sweets after school, then catch the bus home. We still have some of our own teeth!

Sometimes we'd walk, about 2 miles, if we'd missed a bus or something. Later I used to cycle.

I recall being very worried by the time my own youngsters were going to HIGH school and having to cycle along the same road!!

[QUOTE=iaink]Canadas education system is better than the UKs. Canada out performs most other countries (including the UK and way better than the US) in international literacy and numeracy testing. I also think that the system produced nice well rounded individuals in most cases too.

That's what I thought - thanks for clearing that up for me Not that it matters so much at present cos we don't have kids but will do one day

Thanks SQ

Not worried about bullying. Even the "bad language" is not a major concern. We are worried about free handling of drugs, and casual sex acts. Even back in the 70s/80s my wife recalls that kind of thing as pretty "normal" on the bus..out of sight of the driver who couldn't really do anything about it anyway. We dont want our kids to regard that as normal!

The communal bus thing is a recent thing here, as a cost saving exercise. Instead of JK kids going half day 5 days a week...which required a lunch time bus run, they now go full day two days a week so they can combine bus runs. I guess it depends if the schools are in close proximity, which is the case for us.

There is no problem in either country really, although in absolute terms Canada outscores the UK

http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Data...ns.html#slides

there is a table if you scroll down a bit.

Here in Nova Scotia the school standards are certainly not as good as in UK. Many local Canadians we have spoken to complain and wish they could afford to send their children to private school. You only have to drive around Halifax/Dartmouth and look at the condition of the schools to see that they have a point. We are fortunate that my employer agreed to pay for the childrens education so my son is now in his last year at the Grammar school doing his IB. Fees are close to 10000 CD a year here. Everyone told him it would be hard work etc but he is finding it is much more relaxed than the levels he has been used to. He has access to teachers online as well as their home phone numbers. If he has a problem he can contact them anytime. Not sure how good that is for the students - or the staff!

If you are moving to Canada with teenage children, it might be worth taking into account the cost of university fees here as well, especially in Nova Scotia, which has some of the highest rates in the country. It might be worth negotiating with an employer, as I did, and having the fees included in your salary package.

I agree with you "iaink" that Canada is pretty good for teaching English & Maths and as good and if not better than UK schools. We were not keen on a text book education without much practical work at school.
I checked both Key stage 3 syllabus in the UK and grade 7 in Canada before we returned to the UK. The syllabus contents were very similar in structure for say science and maths. The only difference for my 12 year old is that he actually did real lab work and taught by teacher with a PhD in science and not someone with a sociology degree and a year of teacher training college.

My sons at 11 & 13 said "school much more structured in England and more interesting subjects than we did in Canada"

Surely that is entirely dependent on the school chosen. Shortages of "real" science and math teachers are rife on both sides of the pond. Why teach if you can earn twice as much doing science for a living.

I dont really know about structure. my eldest kid is only just starting out. I imagine its good for some kids, but others prefer a bit more autonomy.

I'm guessing that if you are a UK kid, you are not going to have much interest in for example Canadian history compared to UK history, no matter how well taught it might be. Kids and emigration, Im glad it was a non issue for me. Doesnt make life any easier thats for sure.

Hey Val, nice to see good experiences with my alma mater! I attended the Grammar School before they had the IB program, but it was a great school even then.

The superiority of Canadian vs UK schools comes up fairly regularly. It seems to me it is a bit difficult to compare them, as they appear to teach to different goals. From what I understand of the UK system (never having experienced it myself), it seems most classes are taught with the focus on passing a nationwide standardized exam, at least up to age 16. In Canada classes seem to have more of an emphasis on participation and debate of ideas. There are no nationwide standardized tests as provinces control education, and I don't think most provinces have standardized testing, either.

I think which system you consider better comes down to which you are most used to. I prefer the Canadian way as it is what I grew up under, and I think it encourages independent thinking and keeps kids more interested and challenged. I can see the argument behind having standardized tests so there is a consistent basis of comparison for everyone, but I think it also can kill kids' interest and initiative and allow bad teachers to hide behind an endless round of exam preparation.

this is what the UK is doing to attract professionals into schools.

The Minister for Schools, Jacqui Smith, said there was "an historic shortage" of qualified maths and science teachers, but no government had done more to reverse it.

She said targets for recruiting new science and maths teachers were now being exceeded.

"But there is still more to do and that is why we have introduced such a strong package of incentives," she said.

"This includes golden hellos of up to £5,000, tax-free bursaries of up to £9,000, record pay and new initiatives to help people with real industry experience pursue a career in the classroom."


My cousin and her husband (in their late 30's) are school teachers and I was really suprised to find out talking to them a couple of weekends ago that they earn nearly £90k between them last year.

At my brothers wedding 2 weeks ago I was talking to his wifes sister brother inlaw who teaches Physics in Canada. They are thinking to come to the UK as he said he was offered close to £50k p.a contract to teach in the UK.

In the UK I studied American history at O'Level as well as UK history in the UK as well as other countries.

Science teachers in Canada are also paid at a premium. An Aquaintance of mine is giving up a sucessful career in science sales to do teaching, and is anticipating earning $70-80k after a few years at a lower scale (faster acceleration than regular teachers). The shortage remains a universal problem, its not like as a teacher you get to do much experimental work of your own, unlike in the "real world"

Comparisons are largely pointless, both countries have well developed, reasonable state funded education available for all. The differences are mainly in the details, its not like either country is a step into the 3rd world, or the USA :scared:

iaink

I graduated nearly 20 years ago in Chemistry. Only people who could not get jobs then went into teaching then. I know my aunt is a school principal has said I should become a science teacher.

Is a strange thing you can teach science at a school now and make as much running a department turning over $24M worth business with 70 Engineering staff working for you.

On an other subject:

I totally agree with you on the Labour Laws in Canada. Most companies are happy to flout them. I found its even worse being a manager, so that the main reason we return to the UK.
The cold/mossies or no family/close friends, we could cope with that, but working all the time(weekends and most evening) and little time off was the deciding factor for us.

My background is similar (Material Science), my gran was a head teacher...in fact the school is now named after her. And yes, teaching then was the refuge of last resort.

Still, even on even money, I think Id rather deal with 70 Engineers than 30 moody teenagers

Some of the engineering/technical staff who worked for me were worse than some school kids sometimes. One of my facility managers used to call me sometimes and said he was "having problems with children today"