Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective, 2020
Highlights

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Chapter A
The output of educational institutions and the impact of learning

A1 Educational attainment of the adult population

• In Canada, the proportion of adults aged 25 to 64 with tertiary education (college/university completion) increased from 46% in 2005 to 59% in 2019, the highest rate among OECD countries. At the same time, the proportion of individuals with less than high school completion (“below upper secondary”) decreased, from 15% in 2005 to 8% in 2019.
• In 2019, one-quarter (26%) of 25- to 64-year-olds in Canada had completed short cycle tertiary education, far greater than the average of 7% reported by the OECD.
• Canada and OECD’s average for completion of university education for 25- to 64-year-olds was similar (33% for Canada and 32% for OECD ). In Canada, university degree refers to Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral and equivalent degrees.
• At the post-secondary non-tertiary level, which captures the traditionally male-dominated areas of trades, the proportion of men (14%) was double that of women (7%) in 2019. A larger proportion of women reported having college and university level of education, with the gap more marked at college (29% for women vs 23% for men) than university (36% for women vs 30% for men).
• Ninety-four percent of Canadian adults aged 25 to 34 had attained at least upper secondary education (a high school diploma) in 2019, compared with 87% for those aged 55 to 64, reflecting change in attainment patterns for high school completion over time.

A2 On-time and extended graduation rate

• At the end of the 2015/2016 school year, 79% of students in Canada who started Grade 10 (Secondary 3 in Quebec) in 2013/2014 had completed their high-school studies.
• Looking at a longer timeframe gives a more complete picture of high-school graduation rates. By 2017/2018, 89% of the same cohort of students had graduated.
• Canada’s graduation rates were three percentage points above the equivalent OECD averages for general programs at both time points.
• Canada’s graduation rates have been inching up over time. For students who started Grade 10 (Secondary 3 in Quebec) in 2015/2016, the three-year rate increased by two percentage points to 81% at the end of the 2017/18 school year.
• On average across Canada, for the cohort entering Grade 10 (Secondary 3) in 2013/14, a larger proportion of female students (83%) graduated within the three -year period than that of males (76%) in 2015/2016. The gender gap in favour of female graduates decreased for this same cohort with an additional two years of school: by the end of the 2017/2018 year, 92% of female students had graduated, compared to 87% of males.
• This decrease in the gender gap mirrored the OECD average gender gap, which also decreased with an additional two years to complete high-school from 7 to 5 percentage points.

A3 International students

• In 2017/2018, the majority of international students in tertiary education in Canada were registered in Bachelor’s or equivalent level programs, and were from Asia.
• Among G7 countries, Canada had a higher proportion of international students than Germany, Japan and the United States at all education levels.
• In 2017/2018, China ( 30%), India ( 22%) and France ( 7%) were the top three source countries for international students in tertiary education in Canada, with all being in the top five source countries at each level of tertiary education except for short-cycle tertiary.
• In 2017/2018, the top destinations for Canadians who went abroad to study were the United States (55%), the United Kingdom (13%), Australia (6%), and Ireland (3%).

A4 Transitions to the labour market

• In  2020, the majority of young Canadians aged 15 to 19 ( 80%) were in school. For young adults, a higher proportion of adults aged 18 to 24 were in school ( 49%) in comparison to those who had transitioned to the labour market and were employed (38%). Among adults aged 20 to 24, the proportions observed was similar between those in school and those who were employed (42% and 44%). For those in the 25- to 29-year-old age group, most ( 72%) were no longer in school and were employed.
• In  2020, 14% of men and 13% of women in the 15-to-29 age group were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in Canada. At the Canadian average, a greater proportion of men ( 6%) than women ( 4%) were unemployed . The proportion of women not in the labour force (9%) was similar to that of men ( 8%) for the same year.
• From 2000 to 2020, there has been an increase in the proportion of 18- to 24-year olds in Canada that are in school (44% in 2000, 49% in 2020).
• In Canada in 2020, the proportion of 25- to 29-year olds who were not in education and were unemployed or not in the labour force (NEET) was highest for individuals with below upper secondary education ( 48%), lower for those with upper secondary and postsecondary non-tertiary education ( 21%), and lowest for those with tertiary education ( 12%).

A5 Labour market outcomes

• In Canada and other OECD countries, employment prospects increase with educational attainment. In 2019, Canada’s employment rate for adults aged 25 to 64 who had not completed upper secondary education (high school) was 57%, compared to 83% for those with a tertiary education.
• In Canada and for the OECD average, women had consistently lower employment rates than men. This gender gap in employment rates in Canada was largest (20 percentage points) among those with the least education and smallest (6 percentage points) among the men and women with Bachelor’s or equivalent. This was also true at the OECD average, with a larger gap between men and women at the below upper secondary level (21 percentage points) and a smaller gap at the Bachelor’s or equivalent (8 percentage points).
• In 2019, 88% of young adults aged 25 to 34 with non-tertiary post-secondary education were employed, compared to 85% in 2010. During the same two periods, employment rates for young adults with below upper secondary or upper secondary education were more similar. The employment rate for tertiary-educated young adults was slightly higher in 2019 (86%) compared to 2010 (84%).
• In Canada, for 55-64-year-olds, the employment rate was higher in 2019 at every level of education than the rate observed in 2010 (63% versus 58%) indicating that the older generation increasingly postponed retirement and continued working beyond age 55.

Chapter B
Financial resources invested in education

B1 Expenditure per student

• In 2017/2018, expenditure per student at the primary/secondary level was similar for Canada, other G7 countries and the OECD average.
• For the university level, at US$ 28,747, Canada’s figure was 64% higher than the OECD average of US$ 17,566, and was third highest in the G7 behind the United States and United Kingdom.
• Similar to the OECD averages, in Canada and every province, expenditure per student was lowest at the primary/secondary level, higher at the college level and highest at the university level.

B2 Expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP

• With 6.2% of its GDP allocated to educational institutions in 2017/2018 (3.6% for primary and secondary education plus 2.6% for all postsecondary education), Canada devoted more than the 4.8% average estimated by the OECD average (3. 4% and 1. 4% respectively).
• In all G7 countries, Canada included, and at the OECD average, the share of national wealth invested in education was larger for primary and secondary education than that for tertiary education in 2017/2018.

B3 Distribution of expenditure on education

• In 2017/2018, the rate of spending on current expenditure exceeded that on capital expenditure at all levels of education for Canada, provinces, territories and in all OECD countries.
• In Canada, current expenditure accounted for 92% of total expenditure at the primary and secondary education levels; 94% for the short-cycle tertiary (college) and post-secondary non-tertiary level, and 89% for the Bachelor's, Master's, Doctoral or equivalent.
• At all levels of education and in all provinces and territories, the compensation of staff (teaching and non-teaching) accounted for the largest proportion of current expenditure on education. In Canada, it represented on average 81% of current expenditure at the primary and secondary levels, and 61% at the short-cycle tertiary (college) and postsecondary non-tertiary level, and 65% at the university level.

Chapter C
The learning environment and organization of schools

C1 Instruction time

• In Canada, in 2018/2019, the total cumulative intended instruction time in formal classroom settings was 11,081 hours on average, between the ages of 6 and 17 (this includes the primary (ages 6 to 11), lower secondary (ages 12 to 14), and upper secondary (ages 15 to 17) levels of education). By comparison, total intended instruction time for the OECD countries for which data were available was 8,836 hours. This was 2,245 fewer hours than the average total intended instruction time in all public institutions in Canada during the 2018/2019 school year.
• Total cumulative intended instruction time for students aged 6 to 17 varied by province and territory, ranging from 9,900 hours in Quebec to 11,655 in Manitoba.

C2 Teachers' working time

• In 2018/2019, teaching hours of primary school teachers varied by province and territory, ranging from 700 hours in New Brunswick to 905 hours in Alberta.
• Net teaching time in Finland was included as a comparison because of this country’s high ranking in international academic assessments. Teachers in Finland at the primary (677) and lower secondary (592) levels had a lower net teaching time than all of the G7 countries.
• For the OECD, annual net teaching time decreases as the level of education increases. This trend is seen in some provinces, however the reverse occurs Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and British Columbia. These differences between provinces reflect different policy choices.

C3 Teachers' salaries

• In 2018/2019, in Canada, salaries for full-time teachers in public elementary and secondary schools do not vary across levels of education – teachers are paid the same salaries regardless of whether they are teaching at the primary, lower or upper secondary level. By contrast, in many of the countries that recently reported to the OECD, teachers’ salaries tended to rise with the level of education taught.
• In lower secondary institutions, teachers at the top of their pay scales in Canada had the third highest average salaries (US$ 70,698) among the G7 group of countries after Germany (US$ 91,510) and the USA (US$ 74,683). Within Canada, equivalent teachers in the Northwest Territories (US$ 86,903), Ontario (US$ 76,086), Alberta (US$ 72,369), and Newfoundland and Labrador (US$ 70,932) received higher salaries than the Canadian average.
• In more than half of the provinces and territories in Canada, teachers in public elementary and secondary schools reached their maximum salary after 10 years’ experience. The Canadian average is 11 years. This is much sooner than their counterparts in other OECD countries, whose salaries continued to increase beyond 10 and 15 years’ experience.

Chapter D
Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education

D1 Online learning across Canada: Preparedness of students, teachers, and schools

• In 2018, more than 9 out of 10 Canadian 15-year-old students reported having access to a computer at home that they can use for school work and more than three-quarters reported having access to educational software.
• More than 40% of Grade 4 students in Canada reported that using a computer, typing, and finding information on the Internet were self-taught. Students’ families were reported as the second most common source of teaching, followed by their teachers. Grade 4 student responses were similar across participating countries.
• Canadian schools’ capacity to enhance learning and teaching using digital devices, as reported by school principals, was similar to or higher than the average across OECD countries for all capacities outlined in the PISA 2018 questionnaire  with the exception of the percentage of schools where teachers were provided with incentives to integrate digital devices.
• About half of Grade 4 students in Canada were taught by teachers who reported that the lack of support using ICT was not a limit to how they teach their class. This proportion was the same as the average calculated among participating countries and ranged from 46% to 53% among the participating provinces except in Alberta, where this percentage was higher at almost 70%.

D2 Pathways of full-time students in a Bachelor’s or equivalent program

• In 2017, 42% of Canadian students enrolled full-time in a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent program had graduated from it four years later. Another 5% had graduated from a different tertiary program. While 40% of students were still enrolled in tertiary education after that time, 13% had left without graduating.
• Amongst Canadian provinces and selected countries, the United Kingdom (68%), Israel (60%) and Quebec (58%) had the highest graduation rates from a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent program after four years.
• In Canada, women were more likely to graduate within four years – with 53% of women graduating versus 40% of men. In Finland the disparity between the genders was highest with 28% for men compared with 55% for women.
• Compared to Canada, all selected countries except the United Kingdom had a higher proportion of students who left tertiary education without graduating after four years. The lowest rate was in Quebec (4%) and the highest in Manitoba (26%). The proportion of students who left after one year was the lowest in United States with 6% compared with 11% in Canada.
• In Canada, 4% of students enrolled in a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent program transferred to another tertiary program after one year while 83% continued in it. In France, the rate of students who changed programs was the highest at 13% and was also the country where the proportion of students who persisted in their original program after one year was lowest (79%).

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