Canadian Postsecondary Research Articles

Non-Formal Adult Learning Programs at Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions: Trends, Issues, and Practices

A number of recent policy reports have suggested that Canadian universities and community colleges should play a more significant role in response to the adult education and training needs of Canada’s workforce. This article discusses the results of a study that examined investment trends and the characteristics of non-formal adult learner programming at Canadian postsecondary institutions. Public universities and community colleges were surveyed, and a purposive sample of key informants, representing the broad spectrum of postsecondary education in Canada, was interviewed. The results indicated that institutional investments in non-formal programs for adult learners have trended upward over the past decade. Colleges reported larger average annual institutional expenditures on and larger enrolments in non-formal adult learner programs. However, adult learners comprise only a small minority of the overall student population at post-secondary institutions. Financial barriers at both the institutional and individual levels were identified as key barriers to increasing access and participation. Limited operational funding at the institutional level has influenced the nature and scope of offerings and, for many institutions, has resulted in program offerings that do not necessarily target the needs of nontraditional and disadvantaged adult learner groups. The study findings have important public-policy implications for improving access and participation in non-formal adult learning, including the need for greater incentives for individuals (e.g., tax incentives) and increased support for disadvantaged learners to enhance basic-skills training.

Theorising the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child within Canadian Post-Secondary Education: A Grounded Theory Approach

AbstractThe following exploratory study was conducted in 2005 within Canadian post-secondary institutions for those intending to gain employment within public education for children and related professions. Data are comprised from thirteen interviews and draw upon students and educators from education, child health, and child and youth studies programmes. The researchers adopted a qualitative, grounded theory methodology to analyze documentary themes and those that emerged during theoretical sampling. Although there is variance of opinion, the majority confirm there is a limited theoretical appreciation of the Convention, and of concepts related to 'childhood' with a resultant lack of knowledge within post-secondary education. Interview findings were corroborated by policy analyses and data from non-governmental surveys, the Concluding Observations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and a contemporaneous parliamentary review undertaken by Canada's Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights. A number of implications stemming from the ongoing violation of international human rights law in Canada are discussed as well as directions for future research.

P105: Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating: A Qualitative Investigation of the Perceptions and Understanding of Consumers with Two Years or Less of Canadian Post-Secondary Education

P105: Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating: A Qualitative Investigation of the Perceptions and Understanding of Consumers with Two Years or Less of Canadian Post-Secondary Education

Canadian Postsecondary Students With Disabilities: Where Are They?

Results of a Canada-wide and a Quebec based study of students with a variety of disabilities in Canadian postsecondary education are presented. Study 1 involved 156 professionals. They represent 80% of the population of professionals who provide on-campus disability support services. Results indicate that (1) 8% of postsecondary institutions reported not having any students with disabilities, (2) overall, 2% of students are registered to receive disability related services from their post- secondary institutions, and (3) this varies from 1/2% to 6% across the country. Junior/community colleges had a higher percentage of students with disabilities registered to receive disability related services (3 3/4%) than universities (1 2/3%). (4) Distance education had 3%. (5) Quebec has a smaller proportion of both college (2/3% vs 6%) and university (1/2%) vs 2 1/2%) students with disabilities than the rest of Canada. A targeted study involving 46 professionals who provide disability related services in Quebec's public junior/community colleges, the CEGEPs, revealed that lack of recognition of learning disabilities for postsecondary funding by the Quebec government is an important contributor to the small percentages, although it cannot explain the huge discrepancies between Quebec and the rest of Canada. Extrapolation suggests that there are over 100,000 students with disabilities currently enrolled in Canadian postsecondary education, although only 1/4 to 1/2 of them register to receive disability related services.

Precarious Employment in Canada: Taking Stock, Taking Action

Precarious employment is an increasingly common term used to highlight labour market insecurity. In Canada, precarious employment normally involves those forms of work involving atypical employment contracts, limited social benefits and statutory entitlements, job insecurity, low job tenure, low wages and high risks of ill health. Precarious employment is shaped by tendencies in late capitalism whereby employers use subcontracting and other strategies to minimise labour costs and thereby lower the bottom of the labour market. This Forum on Precarious Employment considers the nature and shape of precarious employment in Canada based on preliminary findings of four research projects of the Community University Research Alliance on Contingent Employment (ACE). ACE is group of professors, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students from four Canadian postsecondary institutions (York University, McMaster University, University of Quebec at Montreal and George Brown College) and researchers and activists from community and labour organisations. Toronto Organising For Fair Employment (TOFFE), the Ontario Federation of Labour, Parkdale Community Legal Services, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers as well as analysts from the Institute for Work and Health and the Housing Family and Social Statistics Division of Statistics Canada participate. In its research program, ACE aims to foster new social, statistical, legal, political and economic understandings of precarious employment that are grounded in workers’ experiences of their work and directed at improving their quality and conditions of work and health. Since January 2001, ACE researchers have pursued research on the size, shape and location of precarious employment in Canada; labour laws, regulations and policies; work organisation and health; and organising amongst workers. Community and university partners are involved in defining research questions, shaping research methods and carrying out research in each of these areas. This forum presents highlights from each of the four main areas of investigation in ACE. Collectively, PRECARIOUS EMPLOYMENT IN CANADA: TAKING STOCK, TAKING ACTION

From School to Work: The Evolution of Early Labour Market Outcomes of Canadian Postsecondary Graduates

This paper reports the results of an empirical analysis of the early labour market outcomes of Canadian postsecondary graduates based on the National Graduates Surveys, representing those who finished their college or university programs in 1982, 1986, and 1990. The major findings include that postsecondary graduates have generally been doing quite well as a group, with most finding full-time and permanent jobs, receiving reasonably high earnings, and otherwise successfully moving into the laour market according to the various outcomes measured here; that the school-to-work transition is clearly a process, rather than an event, with most outcomes improving significantly from two to five years following graduation; that these outcomes vary by level (College, Bachelor's, Master's, PhD) and sex; and that successive cohorts of graduates did not experience any widespread decline in their labour market fortunes over this period.

Distance Education for Adult Learners: Developments in the Canadian Post-Secondary System

Distance Education for Adult Learners: Developments in the Canadian Post-Secondary System

Patterns of Education Financing and Debt: A Comparison of Two Cohorts of Canadian Post-Secondary Graduates

Using data from 1988 and 1992 National Graduates Surveys (conducted by Statistics Canada), this paper explores educational financing and debt patterns for recent graduates of Canadian community college and university programs. A majority of recent post-secondary graduates borrowed to finance their education at some point during their educational programs through the Canada Student Loans Program and/or other sources. The more recent cohort of post-secondary graduates (1990 graduates interviewed in 1992) reported markedly higher debt loads and significantly greater amounts owing two years after graduation, relative to the earlier cohort (of 1986 graduates surveyed in 1988). Multiple regression models are developed and tested to predict the amount of debt (in dollars) owed by graduates approximately two years after completion of their programs. Key explanatory variables of (1) total amount borrowed, (2) university or community college program graduate, (3) number of months not employed between graduation and time of interview, (4) current job temporary or not, and (5) current employment income were all found to be highly significant for the most recent cohort of post-secondary graduates. However, there are important differences in multiple regression results between the two cohorts which are discussed in detail in the paper.

Technical Communication Programs at Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions

The location, extent, and focus of technical writing programs at Canadian colleges and universities is largely unknown, as least in a systematic way. This article reports the results of one survey of English-language programs. These programs are identified and representative ones are described in more detail. In the light of these findings, we discuss the need for more programs and the focus of these programs.

A Continuum of Approaches to Service-Learning within Canadian Post-secondary Education

This article provides a multi-level conceptual framework for service-learning that can serve as a decision-making guide for service-learning initiatives in Canadian post-secondary education. Service-learning approach options along a non-hierarchical continuum (philanthropic, social justice, and social transformation) are examined; the theoretical clusters used to frame this examination include experiential education, social learning, student development, and liberatory education. Various dimensions and potential implications of each approach are explored. Regardless of the particular service-learning approach adopted by Canadian institutions, decision makers and participants should be conscious of the parameters and potential impact of their chosen approach.