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The annual Survey of Canadian Attitudes toward Learning (SCAL) provides a unique opportunity to gauge the opinions, perceptions, and beliefs of Canadians about various aspects of learning in Canada. Now in its second year, the survey was designed by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) in consultation with Statistics Canada, which administered the survey on behalf of CCL. SCAL data were collected in May and June 2007. Results are based on telephone interviews with 5,361 Canadians. All respondents had previously participated in Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey or the Canadian Community Health Survey.
Note: The analyses and opinions expressed in CCL publications related to SCAL are solely those of the Canadian Council on Learning.
SCAL resources
Overall, the results of SCAL 2007 indicate that Canadians hold a complex set of attitudes toward structured learning in Canada's elementary and secondary schools.
Most Canadians feel that these schools are meeting or exceeding their expectations, but levels of satisfaction are lower among parents who hire tutors for their children and higher among parents who enrol their children in language-immersion programs.
Homework remains a controversial subject. Most Canadians support the use of homework as an important learning tool, but most Canadians also indicate that homework is frequently a source of household stress.
Many parents choose to hire tutors for their school-age children. Household income is a strong predictor of parents' decisions to hire tutors; thus, many more parents would likely hire tutors if they were not prevented by financial constraints from doing so.
Language-immersion programs are an increasingly popular approach to second-language learning. These programs are particularly popular in bilingual provinces (e.g., New Brunswick) and in bilingual households.
Finally, a majority of Canadians believe that bullying is one of the most serious issues facing students today. Nearly half of parents of school-age children report that their children have been bullied. Canadians hold all relevant parties (including teachers, administrators, parents, and students) responsible for doing more to prevent and address bullying in schools.
Canadians were asked about various aspects of schooling and whether the schools with which they are personally familiar are meeting their expectations in those areas. In most respects, a majority of Canadians believe that schools are meeting or exceeding their expectations, but Canadians do express some dissatisfaction. In particular, more than 40% of Canadians indicate that schools are below their expectations with respect to preparing students for work (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Canadians' attitudes about the performance of elementary and secondary schools
Source: Canadian Council on Learning. Survey of Canadian Attitudes toward Learning, 2007
When asked about homework, most Canadians agree or strongly agree that homework enhances learning and helps students develop good work habits. However, more than 60% of Canadians also agree or strongly agree that, in their experience, homework has often been a source of household stress (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Canadians' attitudes toward homework
Nearly half of Canadians believe that both elementary and high-school students are assigned just enough homework. One-quarter of Canadians believe elementary students are assigned too much homework and 19% believe the same is true for high-school students (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Canadians' beliefs about the quantity of homework assigned to elementary and high-school students
Very few Canadians believe that parents spend too much time helping their children with homework. However, 37% believe that parents do not spend enough time helping their elementary school children with homework and 50% believe the same with respect to high-school students (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Canadians' beliefs about parents' time spent helping their children with homework
More SCAL results, context and analysis on homework »
Overall, 33% of parents report hiring a private tutor to assist with their children's education. Most tutors are hired to assist with mathematics, but tutors are also hired to help with reading and writing, science and other subjects (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Proportion of Canadian parents who have hired private tutors
More SCAL results, context and analysis on tutors »
Nearly one-quarter of Canadian parents report having enrolled their children in language-immersion programs (primarily French immersion). Most parents report that their reasons for enrolling their children in immersion programs are to learn and maintain additional language skills and to improve future job opportunities (see Figure 6).
Figure 6: Parents' reasons for enrolling their children in language-immersion programs
More SCAL results, context and analysis on language-immersion programs »
More than 80% of Canadians agree or strongly agree that bullying is one of the most serious issues affecting students today. Nearly half (47%) of Canadian parents indicate that their children have been bullied and 16% indicate that this bullying has occurred frequently. Canadians generally disagree that enough is being done to prevent and address bullying in schools, and they hold all relevant parties responsible for doing more (see Figure 7).
Figure 7; Canadians' beliefs that relevant parties are doing enough to prevent and address bullying in schools
More SCAL results, context and analysis on bullying »