Hello

An "involved" school parent here from Ontario. I live in rural town too about 4,000 population. Here it greatly depends on the school board, I have a child in both the public school board and in the catholic school board. In public there is a teacher who is there 3/4 of school time and teaches only French. In the catholic school board there is one French teacher who visits all the schools in the area, probably 4 or 5 schools.

The big difference I find from a teaching point is that here in Ontario the parents are well aware throughout the year on what level their child is at. In Scotland my children went to school at the start of term, I had a 5min parent evening 2months into the year and heard nothing till the end of the year when I received a report card.

In Canada I receive 2 parents evenings to include both the French teacher and the home room teacher (class teacher) and I receive three report cards which show if there has been an improvement or decline from previous card.

I also receive phone calls when my child has achieved on a certain test, although I told them they dont need to call me any more because he is clever and I was getting a call every day!

Canada "tests" frequently and these have to be signed by parents which I think is great. There are so many assignments too before the tests so the child/parent/teacher can see whether the subject is being grasped.

In Scotland the attitude was that "the child needs to work at their own level and not feel as if they are in competition or being tested to fail"

The down side of education here in Canada is that their is too much focus on literacy. To the extent that the kids have so much homework they have no time for family. If you had any extra curricular activities on then the kids are totally exhausted. Unlike some studies that were done in the uk that showed too many extra curricular wasnt good for the kids, Canada is still pushing.

Finally - the weight of the childrens back packs due to the homework is disgusting. My child was carrying 32lbs on his back two weeks ago, he is only 11 years old.

Ok just my opinions, love Canada though :-)

Take care