www.conferenceboard.ca
OTTAWA
,
Jan. 6
/CNW/ -
Canada
earns top marks for its Education and Skills performance, according to the Conference Board's How
Canada
Performs comparison with 16 other developed countries.
The updated Education and Skills rankings, published today, give
Canada
an "A" grade, an improvement from last year's "B" result.
Canada
remains second to
Finland
in overall Education and Skills outcomes, but closed the gap with the leader by improving substantially on two key indicators:
- Between 2006 and 2007, the proportion of Canada's working-age
population that graduated from high-school increased by a full
percentage point (from 85.6 per cent to 86.6 per cent). The top
performer on this indicator, the United States, only increased its
proportion by 0.1 percentage point (from 87.8 per cent to 87.9 per
cent).
- Canada's proportion of graduates from science, math, computer science
and engineering disciplines significantly improved. While it still
earns only a 'C' grade on this indicator, it is an improvement from
last year's "D".
"Compared to its peer countries,
Canada
is an exceptional performer in the classroom," said
Brenda Lafleur
, Director, How
Canada
Performs. "Canada's strength is in delivering a high-quality education to people between the ages of 5 and 25 with comparatively modest spending.
Canada
obtains "A" or "B" grades on 13 of the 15 Education and Skills indicators."
However, some weaknesses remain in Canada's results.
Canada
gets a "D" grade on the indicator measuring Ph.D. graduates, and its performance on this indicator has deteriorated significantly over time. The leading country on this indicator,
Sweden
, has three and a half times Canada's Ph.D. graduation rate. Canada's relatively poor ranking has implications for the country's ability to improve innovation, productivity, and competitiveness.
In addition,
Canada
needs to focus on improving access to education and skills outside the traditional school system, in areas such as workplace training programs.
Canada
should also be concerned about its adult literacy rate, since an estimated 7 million adults (42 per cent of the adult population) have a low level of literacy. Conference Board research indicates that people with low literacy skills are more likely to do poorly during economic downturns and may not be well-prepared to adjust to a changing labour market.
How
Canada
Performs: A Report Card on
Canada
(http://www.conferenceboard.ca/HCP/default.aspx) is the Conference Board's annual benchmarking analysis, which the Board has conducted since 1996. The Conference Board assesses Canada's performance against leading countries in the domains of Economy, Health, Society, Innovation, Environment, and Education and Skills.
For further information: Brent Dowdall, Media Relations, Tel.: (613) 526-3090 ext. 448, E-mail: [email protected]
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