Canadian Secondary Education

This morning I visited the ‘Hugh Boyd secondary school’ here in Richmond. Deborah (from the golf tournament, remember?) managed to put me into contact with the school’s principal, Ms. McFadyen and she kindly agreed to give me a tour!

Ms. McFadyen explained the Canadian secondary educational system to me in great detail, so let me try to break it down;

First off, there are two basic systems upon which the schools base their curricula: the linear- and semester system. The former works as following:

Eight subjects are to be taken in grade eight, namely: English, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, French, Home Education/Technology Education and a Fine Arts elective (for which pupils can choose Art, Band, Drama, Drumming, Guitar).

Each subject is assigned a letter (English is A, for example) and implemented in the timetable. The eight mandatory subjects are divided over two ‘days’. On day 1, subjects A, B,C and D are scheduled. Day2: E,F,G and H. A regular week in Hugh Boyd would mean:

Monday: Day 1 i.e. A – B – C – D
Tuesday: Day 2 i.e. E – F – G – H
….
Friday: Day 1 i.e. A – B – C – D
Monday: Day 2 i.e. E – F – G – H

All subjects are taught throughout the entire year and all the exams take place in June (much like the Dutch educational system). The linear system uses a different approach; although teaching similar subjects, their year schedule differs greatly. Classes from subjects A, B, C and D are scheduled from September to January, E, F, G and H take place from February to June. Exams are held in respectively January and September. The workload for students in the linear system would seem less high, as their exams are spread out over the year, but research proves this theory wrong; there is no considerable difference in grades and exam results between the two systems.

Noticeable differences between Canadian and Dutch education:

In Canada, the choice for a secondary school is not yours to make, you’re assigned the school closest to your house. If the assigned school doesn’t provide the desired curricula, There is, through enormous paperwork, the possibility to apply for another school. Both schools have to degree on this transfer.

There is in Canada no difference in levels of secondary education. To put this in Dutch terms; VMBO and VWO students are basically taking the same classes. This is of course debatable. On one hand, it’s a good thing that less-capable students (some pupils even required full-time attention and assistance from counselors) participate in regular education as much as possible. On the other hand, more academically skilled pupils might not be proportionally challenged and therefore get bored.

Languages such as Spanish, Japanese and Mandarin although maybe not too uncommon in the Netherlands, are provided by the school.

Sport is, of course, considered to be very important. The school football team, ‘the Trojans’ supposedly does very well in the local league. Physical Education is an extensive course, which even provides classes to teach students how to design programs for personal strength and muscle training, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility.

From grade nine onwards, students can choose ‘Hairdressing’ and ‘Woodworking’ as subjects to replace the three required electives.

All in all, I think Canadian education is a system comparable to a combination of the Dutch MBO and a secondary school. Students can, from early on, choose specific courses and classes which determines their direction in school and even in further education. Their approach may not be challenging enough for brighter students, but certainly makes less-capable feel as accepted as possible.