Want better education? Start by trusting parents

Posted on August 7, 2025 by admin

Canada’s education system is failing too many students—not just because of declining test scores or pandemic disruptions. At the heart of the problem is a human rights issue that too often goes ignored: parents have the right to choose the kind of education their children receive. If we truly believe education is a human right, then real choice—educational pluralism—must be part of the solution.

Teachers’ unions are right about one thing: all children deserve access to quality K–12 schooling. That’s foundational to any healthy democracy. But the conversation often stops there. Left out is the other half of that right. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights puts it, “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”

This principle—parental choice—is largely absent from the way Canada talks about education. And it’s costing us.

Consider the warning signs. Many of Canada’s K–12 students, particularly those from minority and disability communities, are being left behind. The pandemic exposed deep inequities in learning that haven’t been resolved. Meanwhile, provincial governments have responded to years of falling test scores with silence or bureaucratic tinkering. The system isn’t adapting. Parents are noticing.

Demand for alternatives is growing. Separate and French-language schools remain popular. Independent school enrolment is rising in almost every province, outpacing growth in the public system. Homeschooling surged during the pandemic and remains well above pre-COVID levels. Newer models like microschooling (small, personalized community-based schools) and hybrid education (combining in-person and online learning) are also gaining traction. Families are seeking schools that better reflect their values, needs and aspirations.

This is where educational pluralism comes in—a model where governments fund and regulate a variety of schools but don’t necessarily deliver them all directly. That includes public, religious, independent and alternative schools, all supported by public funds and held to shared academic standards. It recognizes that in a diverse society, no single system can meet every student’s needs.

This isn’t radical. The Netherlands, Belgium and Australia have long embraced pluralism, funding a wide range of schools while maintaining strong national standards.

Canada has already taken steps in this direction: Ontario funds Catholic schools; other provinces support French-language and Indigenous-focused schools. What’s missing is equitable access to broader options for all families.

Pluralism offers three key benefits. It ensures students can learn in environments aligned with their needs and identities. It supports social cohesion by respecting diversity while requiring core competencies. And it revitalizes public systems by reducing the expectation that any one model must serve every purpose for every student.

That’s why calls to defund Ontario’s Catholic system or eliminate educational choice elsewhere are misguided. Real fairness doesn’t mean sameness. It means recognizing differences and demanding accountability from all educational models.

Fixing Canada’s K–12 challenges won’t come from more centralization or bureaucracy. What’s needed is a commitment to local governance, excellent instruction and measurable outcomes—combined with real access to a diversity of school options.

That includes supporting educational entrepreneurs opening classical academies, Jewish schools, Montessori programs, Black-led homeschool co-operatives and institutions for children with special needs. These leaders know education is about more than keeping students in classrooms. It’s about forming character, fostering excellence and building cultures of learning and hope. They’re already showing it works—and parents are responding.

It’s time provincial governments listened. Education is a human right but only when it includes the right to choose the type of schooling that is the best fit. Canada needs a new public conversation that sees educational pluralism not as a threat to public education but as the key to renewing it.

Joanna DeJong VanHof leads education research at the non-partisan think tank Cardus.

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