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Charting the Rise of School Choice across Canadian Provinces: A Policy Index

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2021

Salar Asadolahi Open the ORCID record for Salar Asadolahi [Opens in a new window] ,
James Farney ,
Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos  and
Linda A. White
Salar Asadolahi*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3G3
James Farney
Affiliation:
Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina, 3rd Floor, 2155 College Avenue, Regina, SK, Canada, S4S 0A2
Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3G3
Linda A. White
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3G3
*
*Corresponding author. Email: salar.asadolahi@mail.utoronto.ca
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Abstract

This article introduces and discusses the findings of the Canada School Choice Policy Index (CSCPI). This is the first index of its kind that measures the development of school choice policies across the Canadian provinces from 1980 to 2020 using eight unique indicators of choice. In contrast to other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the CSCPI reveals that although Canada has witnessed an increase in school choice over time, this increase has largely been contained within public education systems rather than in the expansion of private education options. Our findings raise the importance of future research to address growing choice in public education systems across the provinces, in addition to choice in the private sphere.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article présente et discute les résultats de l'Indice canadien des politiques de choix scolaire (IPCS). Il s'agit du premier indice de ce type qui mesure l'évolution des politiques de choix de l'école dans les provinces canadiennes de 1980 à 2020 à l'aide de huit indicateurs uniques de choix. Contrairement aux autres pays de l'OCDE, l'IPSC révèle que, bien que le Canada ait connu une augmentation du choix d'écoles au fil du temps, cette augmentation a été largement contenue dans les systèmes d'éducation publique plutôt que par l'expansion des options d'éducation privée. Nos résultats soulèvent l'importance de recherches futures portant sur le choix croissant dans les systèmes d'éducation publique dans les provinces, en plus du choix dans la sphère privée.

Keywords

school choiceindexCanadian politicseducation policychoix de l'écoleindicepolitique canadiennepolitique d'éducation
Type
Research Article/Étude originale
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 188 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Canadian Political Science Association (l’Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique

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