Should There Be Charter Schools?

At present, the dominant philosophy of education in most Ontario elementary schools is called 'child-centred learning.' This approach to teaching usually results in poor academic achievement. The U.K. Government, which pioneered child-centred learning in the 50's and therefore is about ten years ahead of Canada, has now officially rejected it, in favour of more structured and traditional methods. A similar movement is underway in many other jurisdictions, for example most American states, Australia, and New Zealand.

In Ontario, child-centred learning remains the method of choice for virtually all school boards, and almost all public schools are child-centred. In addition, parents are usually expected to send their children to their neighbourhood schools (which thus have a monopoly). As a result, there are few differences among schools, almost no competition among schools, and little incentive for schools to be responsive to parents.

Alberta, along with 39 U.S. states, has recently passed charter school legislation. There are now approximately 2500 charter schools in North America, and preliminary results are promising. Not only are the charter schools achieving better results, but also ordinary public schools in their area are becoming more responsive as a result of the competition.

Charter schools, licensed by the province and run by agencies other than school boards, are free of much red-tape and other handicaps (although they do have to meet curriculum and testing requirements). Most charter schools have a specific focus, such as music, special needs, or direct instruction, which attracts like-minded parents and students. Because their teachers, parents and students are all in agreement, charter schools can provide a highly-compatible type of education. In addition, charter schools represent healthy competition for the other local schools and, as such, hold out the promise of jump-starting education reform.