Schools: Quebec an example not to follow, say Australian experts

Quebec Premier François Legault with schoolchildren celebrating Halloween on Oct. 31, 2024, in Quebec City. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)

Australian experts say they prefer looking to Ontario rather than Quebec, whose education system they describe as almost as dysfunctional as their own.

That is the conclusion of a new report titled Lessons from Canada: An Equitable Education System Is Possible, authored by researchers Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor.

The two men were part of an Australian delegation that spent 10 days in Canada in October 2024 to learn more about its various education systems.

They found Ontario’s model particularly inspiring, with its free public schools that do not select students and its private schools that receive no public funding.

In contrast, Quebec’s “three-tier” system (regular public, selective public and private schools) quickly emerged as an example not to follow, Greenwell said in a telephone interview from Canberra.

“We were struck by Quebec because all our problems were reflected back at us,” he said, noting that he saw the same tracking and “segregation” that exists in Australia.

Concentrating students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with learning difficulties in regular classes can cause real harm, he added.

“The Quebec system lets a large number of young people down,” the report states on page 78.

“We’re sending a friendly warning to Quebec,” Greenwell said in an interview. Segregation harms teachers and children, who perform worse than they would in more diverse classrooms.

L’École ensemble praised

The only bright spot for Quebec, according to Greenwell, is the “detailed and sophisticated” proposal from the citizen movement L’École ensemble, which is cited extensively in the report.

In February, Québec solidaire presented the plan developed by L’École ensemble to the National Assembly as a bill.

It aims to bring public and private schools in Quebec into a common network, free and accessible to all.

The goal is for all children to have access to a quality education, regardless of their academic results or their parents’ income.

Bill 895 proposes grouping public schools with private schools that agree to end selection based on grades, among other criteria.

Private schools that choose not to join the network would lose public funding.

The legislation also proposes making special programs accessible to all students and banning any selection process.

It sets out the same conditions for free education and funding for all schools in the common network.

L’École ensemble estimates that creating a common network would generate long-term annual savings of $100 million.

Asked to comment on the report, L’École ensemble coordinator Stéphane Vigneault said he was proud that the Australian researchers had endorsed their solutions.

He expressed hope that the report would circulate and spark change.

“It’s an election year ahead,” he said in an interview. “We have a solution that is pragmatic and innovative. Our goal is to see it included in political platforms.”

Incomplete picture, says FEEP

Meanwhile, the Fédération des établissements d’enseignement privés (FEEP) regrets not being consulted by the Australian delegation.

In an interview, its president, David Bowles, disputed the report’s conclusions, arguing that Quebec’s system is strong because parents can choose their child’s school.

“I’ve attended conferences where people from around the world came to see what we were doing well in Quebec because our students perform very well on international tests,” he said.

“Quebec has the smallest gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students,” he added.

Bowles also noted that private schools now accept 20 per cent of students with learning difficulties, up from just five per cent a few years ago.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 23, 2025.