- Research
A new report compiles and analyzes data on education in Quebec.
Professor Xavier St-Denis and postdoctoral researcher Véronique Grenier of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) worked with four other researchers to write the report Bulletin de l’égalité des chances en éducation.
Published in August 2024 by the Observatoire québécois des inégalités, this document offers a complete overview of Quebec’s situation with regard to education, equal opportunity, and access to education from preschool to university.
Some Highlights
- Kindergarten children born outside of Canada are more at risk of being considered vulnerable than those born in Canada.
- In high school, students from second-generation immigrant backgrounds are more likely to obtain a diploma or a qualification than those from first-generation immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds.
- In recent decades, the participation rate for post-secondary education has risen sharply in Quebec, particularly at the college level. However, major inequalities in access remain:
→ First, more women than men access college and university and graduate.
→ Second, young people experience significant disparities in relation to access and graduation within colleges and universities, depending on their parents’ level of education and income. - There are persistent disparities in program choices between boys and girls, which can be explained by the gendered division of labour, both at home and at work.
INRS expertise: education and social statistics
Professor St-Denis’ research interests include social inequality and mobility, education, and population studies. He is also director of the Social Statistics Study Group.
His expertise in social statistics and administrative data analysis was particularly useful for this project. In fact, he led the development of new indicators on the relation between social origin, access to college and university, and graduation.
“To make good use of my expertise within the education sphere, I felt it was important to establish indicators that answered questions raised by players in that area.”
Xavier St-Denis, Professor at l’INRS
These indicators are the result of meticulous work that required managing extensive data from various government agencies. Véronique Grenier, currently in a Banting postdoctoral fellowship under the supervision of Professor St-Denis at the Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre, specializes in the stratification of access to education in Quebec. She has been a researcher in residence at the Observatoire québécois des inégalités since December 2023, and contributed to the creation of the report in that capacity.
“I felt that compiling indicators, both historical and recent, relating to pre-school, primary and secondary education would contribute to a better understanding of inequalities in education. What’s more, in my opinion, bringing together and contextualizing data that has been made public, but which is scattered, makes it easier for players in the world of education and the general population to access.”
Véronique Grenier, Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at INRS
She is also a member of the Chaire de recherche sur les enjeux de la diversité en éducation et en formation (CREDEF) at UQAM, and an associate researcher for the Centre de recherche et d’intervention sur l’éducation et la vie au travail (CRIEVAT) at Université Laval.
Colleges: democratizing education… for certain groups only
Since they were formed in 1967, colleges have largely contributed to the democratization of post-secondary education. Within the Quebec population, the graduation rate has increased in the past three decades: according to the report, 7 out of 10 students who graduate from high school move on to collegial studies.
However, this new report shows that social background still affects educational trajectories. Although colleges have played an undeniable role in improving access to post-secondary education for the masses in Quebec, nearly 50% of young people who grew up in lower-income families don’t go on to college before the age of 21, as opposed to only 10% for young people from well-off families. This difference leads to large gaps in graduation rates within the same generation, which is a real paradox brought about by the Quebec college model.
“Our report highlights a dual trend within the college system: a role in democratizing education, yet one that does not eliminate educational inequalities in Quebec,” explains Professor St-Denis. “The report encourages readers to adopt a systemic perspective towards equal opportunities in education. In fact, the report’s data emphasizes the cumulative nature of educational inequalities and the obstacles that children and youth from less privileged family and social backgrounds can face.”
According to the report, more women than men work while at school. In terms of life trajectory, this data could also be combined with other obstacles, such as women who come from a less privileged background, or who are single mothers.
Recommandations
Early learning and childcare: Ensure equitable access to quality early childhood education and preschool for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Elementary education: Make up for the lack of data from elementary education by establishing indicators that provide a better understanding of social inequalities.
College: Identify the challenges faced by college students from less privileged backgrounds after their admission to pre-university programs.
University education: In terms of access to bachelor’s programs and graduation, document the underlying reasons for differences in educational trajectories based on social background.
About the report
The Bulletin de l’égalité des chances en éducation is the work of six education researchers: Pierre Doray of the Université du Québec à Montréal, Claude Lessard of the Université de Montréal, Maude Roy-Vallières of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Natacha Prats, Xavier St-Denis, and Véronique Grenier.
See all the report’s documentation (in French)
The Observatoire québécois des inégalités produces, mobilizes, and democratizes knowledge on various forms of inequality in Quebec, in order to inform decision-making and raise public awareness on the state of inequality, its causes and consequences, and possible solutions. The Observatoire québécois des inégalités is a registered charity based at the Université de Montréal that was founded in 2019.