Education in Saskatchewan, Canada, teaches a curriculum of learning set out by the Government of Saskatchewan through the Ministry of Education. The curriculum sets out to develop skills, knowledge and understanding to improve the quality of life. On June 22, 1915, Hon. Walter Scott, Premier and Minister of Education, set out as his mandate the "purpose of procuring for the children of Saskatchewan a better education and an education of greater service and utility to meet the conditions of the chief industry in the Province, which is agriculture". [1] Education facilitates the cultural and regional socialization of an individual through the realisation of their self-potential and latent talents. Historically, the region of Saskatchewan needed successful homesteaders so the focus was to develop a unified language for successful economic trading, and agricultural understanding to develop goods, livestock and cash crops to trade. [2] After the mechanized advancements following the Industrial Revolution and World War II, the primary employment agriculture sector of farming was not as labour-intensive. Individuals focused on secondary industries such as manufacturing and construction, as well as tertiary employment like transportation, trade, finance and services. Schools became technologically more advanced and adapted to supply resources for this growing demand and change of focus. [3]
Education in Saskatchewan is generally divided as Elementary (primary school, public school), followed by Secondary (high school) and Post-secondary (university, college). Within the province under the Ministry of Education, there are district school boards administering the educational programs. [4]
The history of education in this region, North West Territories, began officially in 1885 with Territorial Ordinance #5. [5] North West Territorial Schools Districts or One Room School Houses replaced trading post schooling, missionary schools and private schooling of the past. Moose Jaw School District #1 was formally established December 5, 1884 under the new Board of Education. The 1944 School Act set out to establish larger consolidated schools and the formation of the schools and school districts presently in use. [5] As with any Canadian province, the Saskatchewan Legislature has almost exclusive authority to make laws respecting education. Since 1905, the Legislature has used this capacity to continue the model of locally elected public and separate school boards which originated before 1905, as well as to create and/or regulate universities, colleges, technical institutions and other educational forms and institutions (public charter schools, private schools, home schooling). For historians and genealogists, previous school district records have been submitted to the Saskatchewan Provincial Archives Regina Branch. [6]
Pre-school in Saskatchewan is relatively unregulated, and is not compulsory. The first exposure many children have to learning with others outside of traditional parenting is day care or a parent run playgroup. This sort of activity is not generally considered "schooling". Pre-school education is separate from primary school. Pre-schools are usually run by local councils, community groups or private organisations. Pre-school is offered to three- to five-year-olds, although voluntary attendance numbers vary widely. The year before a child is due to attend primary school is the main year for pre-school education. This year is far more commonly attended, and usually takes the form of a few hours of activity five days a week.
Schools providing primary education are more often referred to as elementary schools or grade schools. Primary and secondary education under the header of K-12 education (K is for kindergarten, 12 is for grade 12). A system of grades is used to describe the various stages of education. Grades are generally known by cardinal number, e.g., grade 12.
Typically, primary education is provided in schools, where the child will stay in steadily advancing classes until they complete it and move on to secondary schooling. Children are usually placed in classes with one teacher who will be primarily responsible for their education and welfare for that year. This teacher may be assisted to varying degrees by specialist teachers in certain subject areas, often music or physical education. The continuity with a single teacher and the opportunity to build up a close relationship with the class is a notable feature of the primary education system. Pursuant to The Education Act, school attendance is compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 16 years. In addition, schooling is provided to anyone between the ages of 6 and 21 years. Both primary and secondary education are free.
High school, secondary school, école secondaire, collegiate institute generally begin from grade 9 through 12 and education is compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16 years according to Saskatchewan's Education Act, 1995 Section 149. [7] However, anyone between the ages of 6 and 21 years "has the right",
In most cases the elementary school ends at grade eight, and high school provides grades nine through twelve; however, there are some exceptions where there is a middle school provided.
From 1889 to 1920s the school class organisation was for elementary levels; Standard I, II, III, IV and V; followed by secondary school beginning at Standard VI. Standard X corresponded to a junior or Class 3 provincial certificate, Standard XI would give a Middle, Class 2 provincial certificate, and finally Standard XII would result in a Senior, Class 1 provincial certificate. A level of attainment of at least Class 3 Standard was needed to teach during this time. [11]
Level | Division | Grade |
---|---|---|
Primary | Division I | Grades one, two, and three |
Intermediate | Division II | Grades four, five, and six |
Junior high school | Division III | Grades seven, eight and nine |
Senior High School or collegiate institute | Division IV | Grades ten, eleven and twelve |
During the era of one room school houses, school districts numbered over 5,000 with the attendant administrative costs. Following the 1944 School Act and 1945 Larger School Unit Act Saskatchewan began larger school consolidation. The one room school house district began to close down in favour of the larger, technologically advanced consolidated school in the neighboring urban centre. [12]
Now there are 28 school divisions and 3 geographical regions. Each school region has a Regional Director, Regional Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Regional Superintendent of Children's Services and Office Manager. Each school division will have a board chair, Director and Secretary-Treasurer. These are the administrative branches which oversee the provision of the physical school building, staffing and also implement the policies and curricula set out by the Government of Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. Each school division administers a number of regional schools. [13] There are four main school board division designations.
There are core subjects at secondary level which are mandatory, and those which are classified as electives. Regular, Fransaskois, and Bilingual curricula all face their own required courses or credits. [16] Electives may be in the fields of:
Post-secondary education could be trade or technical training which could be obtained via a vocational school, or university degree programs. First nations make up over 53% of total post secondary students currently enrolled in Saskatchewan.
There are several and various institutions of higher learning across the province, which can be categorized as follows:
In some courses, honours is awarded on the basis of performance throughout the course (usually in 4yr+ courses), but normally honours consists of undertaking a year of research (like a short thesis or masters by research). If honours is undertaken as an extra year it is known as an honours degree rather than a degree with honours.
Some Saskatchewan University colleges are :
Missionaries and trading post schools provided the first formal educational process. The first immigrants of the late 19th century and early 20th century established log house schools, or classrooms in homes and a settler with some education from the home country would offer to be the teacher. Normal school offered teacher training and were established as early as 1891 but no enrolment for that year. Until local training was completed and there were graduates, some teachers immigrated from eastern Canada and Europe to teach at the early one room school houses. Teachers from the 1880s through to 1940s taught in one room school houses which offered grades 1 through 8, and, where needed, also grades 9 through 12 with classroom sizes varying from 10 through to 40 students. Early residents could teach for a short time as permit teachers if there was a shortage of qualified teachers with a level of attainment of a Class 3 provincial certificate (also called Standard X, or Junior. World War I saw a shortage of teachers as women started to work to support families, and men supported the war effort and fought in an overseas theatre of war. The 1920s and 1930s saw many students educated as teachers. [21] [22] Teachers are members of the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, an organization created in 1933. An Act Respecting the Teaching Profession of 1935 gives the group statutory recognition to support teachers and the teaching profession. [23]
Gifted education is a broad term for special practices, procedures and theories used in the education of children who have been identified as gifted or talented. [24] Various schools across Saskatchewan have aimed to fulfill this mandate such as Walter Murray Collegiate Advanced Program, [25] and Mount Royal Collegiate Institute Multi-Directional Approach to Education (MDA) MDA program [26] to name a few.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, behaviorally disordered students, adolescent anger control, are all different forms of special education which classroom teachers address when they are involved in mainstreaming. [27] There are several programs offered from Kindergarten through the elementary and secondary school system. [28]
The Special Education Unit of the Ministry of Education has a variety of services, resources and support for Saskatchewan schools and teachers. [29]
Schools may offer a variety of venues depending upon the demand within the school population. It may vary from student participation in social clubs, intramurals, or sports teams.
A primary school, elementary school, or grade school is a school for primary education of children who are 4 to 10 years of age. Primary schooling follows preschool and precedes secondary schooling.
Education in Quebec is governed by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. It was administered at the local level by publicly elected French and English school boards, changed in 2020 to school service centres. Teachers are represented by province-wide unions that negotiate province-wide working conditions with local boards and the provincial government of Quebec.
A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution.
A bachelor's degree or baccalaureate is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years. The two most common bachelor's degrees are the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and the Bachelor of Science. In some institutions and educational systems, certain bachelor's degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate educations after a first degree has been completed, although more commonly the successful completion of a bachelor's degree is a prerequisite for further courses such as a master's or a doctorate.
A CEGEP is a publicly funded college providing technical, academic, vocational or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it originates from the French acronym for collège d'enseignement général et professionnel, sometimes known in English as a "General and Vocational College"—it is now considered a word in itself.
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, a student pursuing an associate or bachelor's degree is known as an undergraduate student while a student pursuing a master's or doctoral degree is a graduate student. Upon completion of courses and other requirements of an undergraduate program, the student would earn the corresponding degree. In some other educational systems, undergraduate education is postsecondary education up to and including the level of a master's degree; this is the case for some science courses in Britain and some medicine courses in Europe.
K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an English language expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States and Canada, which is similar to publicly supported school grades before tertiary education in several other countries, such as Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, China, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Iran, the Philippines, South Korea, and Turkey. K–12 refers to the American system which affords authority to local intersectional "districts" which may be specific to a municipality, county, or several regions, depending on population and proximity.
Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, 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. Education in both English and French is available in most places across Canada. Canada has a large number of universities, almost all of which are publicly funded. Established in 1663, Université Laval is the oldest post-secondary institution in Canada. The largest university is the University of Toronto with over 85,000 students. Four universities are regularly ranked among the top 100 world-wide, namely University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, McGill University, and McMaster University, with a total of 18 universities ranked in the top 500 worldwide.
The Ontario Academic Credit (OAC), which may also be known as 12b was a fifth year of secondary school education that previously existed in the province of Ontario, Canada, designed for students preparing for post-secondary education. The OAC curriculum was codified by the Ontario Ministry of Education in Ontario Schools: Intermediate and Senior (OS:IS) and its revisions. The Ontario education system had a final fifth year of secondary education, known as Grade 13 from 1921 to 1988; grade 13 was replaced by OAC for students starting high school in 1984. OAC continued to act as a fifth year of secondary education until it was phased out in 2003.
Twelfth grade is the twelfth year of formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final year of secondary school and K–12 in most parts of the world. Students in twelfth grade are usually 17–18 years old. Some countries have a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all.
Education in Norway is mandatory for all children aged from 6 to 16. Schools are typically divided into two divisions: primary and lower secondary schooling. The majority of schools in Norway are municipal, where local governments fund and manage administration. Primary and lower secondary schools are available free of charge for all Norwegian citizens as a given right.
Educational stages are subdivisions of formal learning, typically covering early childhood education, primary education, secondary education and tertiary education. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognizes nine levels of education in its International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) system. UNESCO's International Bureau of Education maintains a database of country-specific education systems and their stages. Some countries divide levels of study into grades or forms for school children in the same year.
Education in Alberta is provided mainly through funding from the provincial government. The earliest form of formal education in Alberta is usually preschool which is not mandatory and is then followed by the partially-mandatory kindergarten to Grade 12. This is managed by Alberta Education which has divided the province into 379 school authorities. Higher education in the province is managed by Alberta Advanced Education.
Yemen ranked 150 out of 177 in the 2006 Human Development Index and 121 out of 140 countries in the Gender Development Index (2006). In 2005, 81 percent of Yemen's school-age population was enrolled in primary school; enrollment of the female population was 74 percent. Then in 2005, about 46 percent of the school-age population was enrolled in secondary school, including only 30 percent of eligible females. The country is still struggling to provide the requisite infrastructure. School facilities and educational materials are of poor quality, classrooms are too few in number, and the teaching faculty is inadequate.
University of Saskatchewan has over 200 academic programs on its Saskatoon, Saskatchewan campus, and is internationally known for its teaching and research. The on-campus synchrotron Canadian Light Source makes it the only Canadian institution for such nuclear and biotechnology research. Canadian Light Source nuclear research facility provides research and analysis of the internal structures of advanced materials and biological samples. The College of Arts and Science is the largest of the U of S and comprises five separate health science fields in addition to numerous other programs in the Arts, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Natural Sciences. The Department of Computer Science as well as the College of Engineering are ranked highly within their fields. The founding college, the College of Agriculture, is still providing agricultural breakthroughs which are utilized worldwide.
Education in Ontario comprises public and private primary schools, secondary schools and post-secondary institutions. Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Education, while colleges and universities are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The current respective Ministers for each are Stephen Lecce and Ross Romano. The province's public education system is primarily funded by the Government of Ontario, with education in Canada falling almost entirely under provincial jurisdiction. There is no federal government department or agency involved in the formation or analysis of policy regarding education for most Canadians. Schools for Indigenous people in Canada with Indian status are the only schools that are funded federally, and although the schools receive more money per individual student than certain provinces, the amount also includes the operation and maintenance of school facilities, instructional services, students supports and staff. Most provincial allocations per students do not include the maintenance and operation of buildings, as most provincial governments offer additional grants.
Higher education in Canada includes provincial, territorial, Indigenous and military higher education systems. The ideal objective of Canadian higher education is to offer every Canadian the opportunity to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to realize their utmost potential. It aspires to cultivate a world-class workforce, enhance the employment rate of Canadians, and safeguard Canada's enduring prosperity. Higher education programs are intricately designed with the perspective of the learner in focus, striving to mitigate risks and assure definite outcomes.
Historically, Saskatchewan's higher education system has been "significantly shaped" by demographics. In 1901, six years prior to the 1907 founding of a university in Saskatchewan, the urban population in Saskatchewan was 14,266 (16%) while the rural population was 77,013 (84%). One hundred years later, the proportions had changed significantly: urban population in 2001 was 629,036 (64%) while the rural population was 349,897 (36%). Over time the province's higher education system has changed significantly in response both to this demographic shift and to provincial politics.
In the Dominican Republic, education is free and compulsory at the elementary level, and free but non-mandatory at the secondary level. It is divided into four stages:
In the United States, elementary schools are the main point of delivery of primary education, for children between the ages of 4–11 and coming between pre-kindergarten and secondary education.