Bertieblackdog

Hi there

Anyone know what the state schools are like in Canada compared with U.K. I'd like to know what anyone thinks i.e. better/worse? What bits better or worse etc. Our children will be starting secondary school by time we get out there. We've choice of Alberta, BC, or NS at minute and are as yet undecided.

Thanks
Bert

Steve_P

Read the Wiki.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Category:Canada

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Canadian_Schooling

Alberta_Rose

It's different, so in some ways it's hard to compare.

There are also many different types of school even, apart from the private ones, and they vary from province to province, and school board to school board!

Some people on here will tell you they are not as good, and some will disagree. I believe the kids seem much happier generally, and it's a more rounded education, from what I see of our own high school son and his mates. The kids are generally more respectful and many have a work ethic that seemed largely missing in the masses back in the UK.

There doesn't seem so much emphasis on school league tables, and each student is encouraged to work towards their own graduation in a more individual manner than the "establishmentarian" approach that we knew in the UK.

Piff Poff

I have only experience of Elementary and Middle schools so far. (Both in the UK and in Red Deer).

My daughter is happy and confidant, she is doing well at school and enjoys going. That's the same as the UK.

The teachers here are approachable - in school, out of school, by phone, by e-mail. The class sizes are smaller. There is a greater range of subjects and they seem to spend longer on each topic so the kids understand more.

I have no complaints with the level of education my kids getting.

Bertieblackdog

Many thanks for the comments above...all sounds very encouraging.
Bert

Shinkansen

Really??

I found that Canadian employers tend to prefer the foreigners to work as THEY have a work-ethic that just isn't found in Canada! Especially if they're on a work permit. "They'll actually turn up for work" and "care about the job". I guess that's the result of an employee's labour marker though... the "Bah, who cares, I can get another high-paying job EASILY" attitude of local Canadians. The only problem is they wouldn't go the extra mile and do the work-permit route for you! "Legal implications" and all that.

You're right in that the Canadian education system is a lot more well-rounded throughout but for the opposite reasons, the UK higher education system is well recognized as being the best in the world. There's a reason the Chinese, Japanese and Saudi's send their kids here just for schooling.

Shinkansen

Howard1944

shinkansen , pretty funny post, which foreigners are you referring to, not all have the work ethic that you attribute to them????

I have Hired and Fired many people, I could never think of one racial group that worked harder than another, but as a broad genera
ility, I found the 40+ workers to be more reliable, younger people, regardless of ethnicity, tended to take the job less seriously, but that is a broad generalisation

Do the New Immigrants to the U.K work harder than the British, some T.V Programs would make you believe that?

Hiring people of differant ethnicities or sexuality or sexual orientation, is very difficult, when the time comes to give a review that may not be favourable, some may attribute it to factors other than their lack of work ethic.

Shinkansen

Lol!!

Just the businesses I worked for in Calgary on my years working holiday. Admittedly these were all in the service industry where they would bite any foreign worker with a valid work-permit's arm off. I found myself working surrounded by Spanish speakers for a couple of months in Canada. Never imagined that before I got on the plane. Luckily I can speak some Spanish and held the ship together for a bit! =)

Now I'm back over here I'm personally feeling the effect of the influx of EU nationals on the labour market.

Shinkansen

Judy in Calgary

You found when and where? In your year in one city, Calgary?

If you're going to pass opinions on the forum, it would help if you also would provide background information that would allow the reader to put your opinion into context.

Having arrived here nearly thirty one years ago, I can assure you that Calgary's economy has been through cycles. When Calgary's economy tanked in the mid 1980s, employers were prejudiced in favour of people who had "Canadian experience." Calgarians, including born and bred Canadians, did not take their jobs lightly. It has only been in the last three years or so that it has reverted to an employees' market, and employers are obliged to be less choosy than they were before.

Even now, a steady job in Calgary is not a given. You can go to "Cash Corner" any day of the week (including Sunday), and see people standing around, waiting to be hired for a day's labour. It's at the intersection of Centre Street and 12th Avenue SW.

One of the reasons that people in poorly paid jobs can be somewhat inattentive at work is that, if both partners of a couple have jobs like that, they each need two (and sometimes three) of those jobs to keep a roof over their family's head. They don't get all that much sleep.

I have worked in factories (fortunately on the administrative side) in which husbands and wives have worked for the same factory and both have had evening and weekend jobs as office cleaners and the like. That has been necessary to provide for their children, operate vehicles (virtually essential for reaching the industrial area, which is poorly served by public transportation), etc.

Alberta's economy is heavily dependent on the energy industry. The local economy can be booming when much of the rest of Canada is in the doldrums, and vice versa.

Canada has six time zones and many local economies. You do Britons a disservice, in my opinion, when you paint in broad brush strokes that give the impression that what you're saying applies to the whole of Canada.

Shinkansen

Yes in my 18 months in Calgary. I also did house siding work in Panorama through contacts at Cash Corner for my final months in the country. The money was better than the majority of retail/service jobs and was lots of fun, so I thought I'd follow the crowd for a bit too!

Sorry if you took my post the wrong way but it wasn't my intention to paint the whole country with one brush. I did point out these attitudes were observed from the employers I had worked for during my time in Calgary, which is mentioned under my username as my 2nd home.

I am well aware this is one of Calgary's many booms and as such and explains the reasons for these attitudes and observations.

It should be well known that a temporary foreign workers livelihood relies directly on their continued employment with the very same employer for the duration of their permit. This no doubt has an effect on their attitudes to the job in question and is noticed by small businesses in such turbulent times. TFW's are also unable to exercise the same rights as a permanent resident or citizen who are freely able to follow the dollars.

It is my direct experience that in Calgary today, Canadians are willing to leave a service-sector job at the drop of a hat and have a tendency to shirk more than foreign workers. And yes, it is exactly the same here in the UK now as the newly-joined EU nationality workers have found themselves able to earn comparatively ridiculous sums of money and put the effort in accordingly to retain their job. They put the Brits to shame and one of the reasons 80% of all newly created jobs now go to foreign workers.

This is what happens in an imperfect labour market which has either supply-side or demand-side imperfections. Even more so in Canada which is protectionist in nature and gives its residents and citizens advantages over TFW's.

I don't claim to know the entire economic and social history of Canada, I was merely sharing my experiences as an ex-pat from my time in Canada which I thought this board was all about.

Shinkansen

Judy in Calgary

You provided clarification on those points in response to Howard's questions. Your original message in this thread (post #6) did not once mention Calgary or the amount of time you'd spent here.

I applaud you for including your locations under your User Name, and I wish more BE members would do that. But the name of a place under your User Name does not, on its own, provide enough context, in my opinion.

Now that I've shared my opinion with you, I'll drop it.

I keep wanting to introduce what I see as accuracy into this forum. But I should remember that if people who are researching the concept of moving to Canada believe every enthusiastic newcomer to the country who posts here, they deserve any consequences that may ensue. There generally are enough posters who are at other phases of the immigration cycle that, collectively, we provide some balance.

Another factor at work, I think, is that people see and hear what they want to see and hear. If they're set on moving somewhere, they selectively notice information that confirms their intention. So it might not matter what you said.

I'm the same as many others in that regard. Calgary has reached its "use by" date for me, and I am planning to move to Vancouver Island in the next couple of years. I think I'm researching VI objectively, but chances are that I'm not. I'm probably being subjective.

Shinkansen

In future I shall remember to prefix my posts with:-

"In my experience" or "In my opinion"

And yes, anyone who believes what they read on the internet as solid stone fact deserves what get!! However I feel I, as with many others on immigration boards such as this one, are simply sharing their experiences and passing on things they wished they had known previous to their undertakings.

Shinkansen

Bertieblackdog

Ok well thanks for the messages...I got a bit lost with the last few to be honest but thanks anyway.
Bert

mc_dub

At least you can now say you were savaged by a koala bear

Novocastrian

Oi! That's copyrighted.

Gan on Judy, pet. Sick 'im. He's a Pompey fan.