Catching up with the Canadians – news for the school sector

“Everyone knows that Canada is a key competitor for NZ’s school sector,” Mary says. “I wanted to find out more about their success and learn about the challenges they face”.

“Many of the people I met were surprised to learn that NZ hosts about 16,000 international school students – punching above our weight internationally when compared with Australia’s 18,000 – but still a long way from Canada’s 46,000 enrolments! Nevertheless Canada does see Australia and NZ as its main competitors offshore.”

The theme of the Conference was Collaborating to Educate Tomorrow’s Global Citizens. It was attended by 250 delegates from across Canada. Delegates represent school districts or boards, so each delegate could be working with 10 or 50 schools.

International speakers at the conference noted New Zealand’s recent increased profile and activity level in the school sector, citing government support and the establishment of SIEBA as positive developments.

“We are developing a relationship with CAPS-I, with both sides keen to explore potential collaboration” says Mary.

“During my visit I learnt a lot about Canada’s school international education industry. They draw from many of the same markets we do, but as you might expect NZ is stronger (relatively speaking) in South East Asia while Canada is stronger in Latin America.

“There is very little federal government support for Canadian schools’ international business, because education is a provincial responsibility. Canadian schools are committed to delivering high quality student experiences, but they don’t have a Code of Practice equivalent to regulate high professional standards.”

Mary will be sharing more about her learnings on Canada at a pre-conference workshop at NZIEC 2015.