BCTF Information Services—Research & Reports

Statistics Canada and Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC)
Updates: Charts and tables (Updates to Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program)
May 1, 2009

The updates include charts and tables on elementary and secondary education as well as early years and school readiness. In addition, the table titled, “Public and private expenditure on education,” shows that amongst all the provinces, BC had the highest percentage of households incurring education expenditures in 2007.  

John D. Malcolmson
Recognition & Respect: The Unpaid Work of Education Assistants in British Columbia
Burnaby: CUPE, November 2008

CUPE researcher John Malcolmson reports on the results of a survey administered by CUPE that sought to evaluate the working conditions of the province's education assistants.

From the responses of approximately 4,000 education assistants around the province, it became clear that many were putting in extra hours of unpaid work because their paid allocation was less than what they felt was necessary to support student health and safety.

Canadian Education Association
Education Research Roundup - CEA's Year-End Review

A summary of education research from the CEA web site and Bulletin, the year-end review includes research on topics such as Aboriginal Education, Accountability, Inclusion and Equity, Social Impacts and Outcomes of Education, among others.

Council of Ministers of Education, Canada in collaboration with The Canadian Commission for UNESCO
The Development of Education Reports for Canada
Report One: The Education Systems in Canada - Facing the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century; and
Report Two: Inclusive Education in Canada: The Way of the Future; October 2008, 75 pages

The first report, "concentrates on major reforms and innovations in the education systems, as well as the main policies and achievements in access to education, early intervention, learning outcomes, teacher training, and the role of education in combating social exclusion and poverty."

The second report, "relates directly to theme of the conference – inclusive education, which is defined as an approach that looks into how to transform education systems and other learning environments in order to respond to the diversity of learners."

See especially, page 29 of the first report, for a discussion of teacher working conditions including class size and workload.

Linda Kaser and Judy Halbert
From Sorting to Learning: Developing Deep Learning in Canadian Schools
Originally published in Education Canada 48:5 (Winter 2008)

Kaser and Halbert argue that in order to engage adolescent learners, we need to move from a sorting system to a learning system. The four major shifts they identify are:

• From a focus on instruction and teaching to a focus on deeper forms of learning;
• From summative assessment to formative assessment
• From teaching in isolation to teaching in teams
• From "managing the school" to distributed leadership and reflective inquiry
  

Statistics Canada
National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth: School Achievement of Nine-Year Olds, 2006-2007
November 2008

This study supports previous research showing that children's academic knowledge and skill at the time they begin school contributes to higher levels of learning in the early grades.

Mizuko Ito and Others
Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; November 2008, 2 pages

While adults may worry about children wasting time online or playing video games, researchers of this 3-year study (said to be the most extensive study on youth media use in the U.S.), say that youth are engaging in peer-based, self-directed learning. The digital world, they claim, allows young people the opportunity to explore interests, develop technical skills, grapple with social norms, and experiment with new forms of self-expression.

Michael Shaw
The View Inside the Classroom
Times Educational Supplement, October 31, 2008

Britain's Standing Committee for the Education and Training of Teachers surveyed primary and secondary teachers in the U.K. on their views about teacher professionalism. Nine out of ten felt teachers want to be recognized as professionals yet seven out of ten thought the status of teachers was diminishing.

Refer to the actual survey results for more information.

Building a New Canada Together: The Role of Schools in Creating the Canada We Want
Canadian Education Association, October 2008

A keynote address by former Mayor of Winnipeg Glen Murray, and a panel discussion with participants from OISE, People for Education, CEA, etc. are available to download as podcasts. The discussion focuses on the role of schools in preparing students to be citizens in tomorrow's world.

Marc Frenette
The Returns to Schooling on Academic Performance: Evidence from Large Samples Around School Entry Cut-off Dates
Statistics Canada, November 7, 2008; 35 pages

Researcher Marc Frenette estimates the effect of an additional year of schooling (Grade 10) on academic performance. His findings suggest that an additional year of high school (Grade 10) is associated with a large improvement in overall reading and mathematics performance, and a smaller improvement in science performance. The improvements were greater for boys and lower-income youth than for girls and higher-income youth.