Education in Canada

Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, and is funded and overseen by provincial, territorial and local governments. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province. Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by secondary education and post-secondary. Within the provinces under the ministry of education, there are district school boards administering the educational programs.

Education is compulsory in every province and territory in Canada, up to the age of 18 for Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nunavut, and Ontario, and up to the age of 16 for other jurisdictions, or as soon as a high school diploma has been achieved. In some provinces early leaving exemptions can be granted under certain circumstances at 14. Canada generally has 190 (180 in Quebec) school days in the year, officially starting from September (after Labour Day) to the end of June (usually the last Friday of the month, except in Quebec when it is just before June 24 – Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day/Fête nationale du Québec). In British Columbia schools, the Ministry of Education sets the minimum number of instructional hours in a school year, while local school boards have the authority to determine the start and end of the school year, length of the school day, number of non-instructional days, etc. in order to meet the minimum number of instructional hours for that year. While the school year typically runs from the start of September to mid/end of June, there exists local variation throughout the country.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) currently ranks the overall knowledge and skills of Canadian 15-year-olds as the sixth best in the world. Canada is a well performing OECD country in reading literacy, mathematics, and science with the average student scoring 520, compared with the OECD average of 487 in 2018. In 2016, the country spent 6.0 per cent of its GDP on all levels of education – roughly 1.0 percentage points above the OECD average of 5.0 per cent. In 2017, 68 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 attained some form of post-secondary education, which is 56.8 per cent, or 12.4 percentage points, above the OECD average of 44 per cent. 57 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 had attained a college diploma or university degree along with 11 per cent of Canadians attaining certificates, diplomas, and apprenticeships from vocational institutions. 61 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 34 attained some form of tertiary education which is also one of the highest among OECD countries, ranking second behind South Korea. 31 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 have earned a bachelor's degree or higher, which is the same as the OECD average of 31 per cent.