MINISTERS OF EDUCATION DELIVER ON EDUCATION DATA

TORONTO, Sept. 7 /CNW/ - The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), released extensive data today on Canada's education systems as part of its ongoing commitment to quality education data and research.

The second report in a series begun in 2009, Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective, 2010, expands on the data collected for OECD's flagship publication, Education at a Glance, which was released today in Paris. CMEC's report facilitates the comparison of education systems in Canada's provinces and territories with those of OECD member countries.

The report was developed by CMEC in partnership with Statistics Canada, through the Canadian Education Statistics Council (CESC), and builds on Canada's participation in OECD's work on education indicators while enriching the statistical portrait of Canada's education systems by focusing more closely on provincial and territorial data.

"Ministers of education recognize the importance of accurate, comparable data for understanding how our education systems are doing in Canada, compared to the rest of the world," said the Honourable Diane McGifford, Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy for Manitoba and Chair of CMEC. "The information provided through this report underlines the fact that — from a global perspective — Canada's education systems are in excellent health. It highlights our strengths while identifying where we can do better."

Of particular note in the 2010 report:

• One in two adult Canadians have completed postsecondary education, compared to one in three for OECD countries as a whole.
  
  
• Across Canada, as in most OECD countries, female students are more likely to graduate from high school than male students, and to continue to postsecondary education and graduate with a college diploma or university degree.
  
  
• The data in the report show the value of education to individuals and societies: people with postsecondary education, particularly university education, have higher levels of employment and significantly higher earnings. University graduates in Canada, including those with advanced degrees, earned 75 per cent more in 2007 than people with only a high-school diploma. The same pattern is seen across OECD countries.
  
  
• The participation of adults in ongoing education and training in Canada (42 per cent) is similar to the average across OECD countries (41 per cent). Participation tends to be highest among people who have recently entered the workforce and among those with higher educational attainment.

Learn Canada 2020, CMEC's 2008 ministerial declaration, commits CMEC to collect, analyze, and disseminate nationally and internationally comparable data and research.

"It is important to compare ourselves with other countries," said Minister McGifford. "Our work with OECD on education indicators shows that provinces and territories are doing their part to ensure that Canadians know how their education systems are performing."

About CMEC

Founded in 1967, CMEC is the collective voice of Canada's ministers of education. It provides leadership in education at the pan-Canadian and international levels and contributes to the fulfillment of the constitutional responsibility for education conferred on the provinces and territories. For more information, visit us at www.cmec.ca.

CESC is a longstanding partnership between CMEC and Statistics Canada to improve the quality and comparability of Canadian education data and to provide information that can inform policy development in education.

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