Public Attitudes Towards Education in Ontario 1998: The Twelfth OISE/UT Survey 9781442623217

Table of contents :
Contents
Tables
Highlights
Introduction
1. General Views: Satisfaction, Quality and Needed Schooling
2. Funding Education
3. Governing Elementary and Secondary Schools
4. Re-Organizing Schools
5. Educational Equity Issues
6. Universities: Budgeting for Access
7. The Importance of a University Education
8. Education and Employment
9. Lifelong Learning
10. Background Differences
Concluding Remarks: Navigating the Knowledge Society
APPENDIX. Methodology
Notes

Citation preview

PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARDS EDUCATION IN O N T A R I O 1998: THE TWELFTH OISE/UT SURVEY

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D.W. LIVINGSTONE D. HART L.E. DAVIE

Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998 The Twelfth OISE/UT Survey

An OISE/UT book published in association with UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London

© University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1999 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-8306-4

Printed on acid-free paper

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Main entry under title: Public attitudes towards education in Ontario (1980- : Informal series / Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) Biennial. 1978"The OISE survey report." Editors: D.W. Livingstone, D. Hart, and L.E. Davie ISSN 1202-3558 ISBN 0-8020-8306-4 (1998) 1. Education - Ontario - Public opinion - Periodicals. 2. Public opinion Ontario - Periodicals. I. Davie, Lynn. II. Hart, D.J., 1948- . III. Livingstone, D.W., 1943- . IV. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. V. Title: Public attitudes towards education in Ontario. VI. Series: Informal series (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education). LA418.06P83

370'.9713

C95-390004-5

Cover photo: Reuben Roth. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Contents

TABLES Vlll HIGHLIGHTS

3

Introduction 10 The Survey Design 12 1 General Views: Satisfaction, Quality and Needed Schooling Satisfaction 15 Changes in Quality 17 The Perceived Importance of Education 19 2 Funding Education 21 Extent of Public Funding for Education 21 Budget Priorities 21 Size of Educational Expenditures 22 Education Spending Priorities 26 Paying Education Taxes 27 Specific Elementary and High School Funding Issues 28 Catholic and Private School Funding 28 Contracting Out School Services 30 3 Governing Elementary and Secondary Schools 32 Overall Control by the Provincial Government

33

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vi Contents Who Should Handle Staffing and Labour Issues 33 Community Control 34 4 Re-Organizing Schools 37 What Makes Elementary Schools Effective? Secondary School Reforms 39 Streaming 39 After High School? 40

37

5 Educational Equity Issues 42 Perceived Equity for Lower Income Students 42 Perceived Equity for Women in Education 43 Perceived Equity for Aboriginal Students 44 6 Universities: Budgeting for Access 46 Guaranteed Access to University 47 Fee Hikes, Enrolment Cuts or Program Reductions 48 Responding to the Double Cohort 48 7 The Importance of a University Education 50 Value to Individuals 50 Employment and Incomes 51 Other Benefits 53 Value to Society and the Economy 53 Impact of the Universities 53 Policy Issues: University Enrolment and Labour Force Needs 55 Basic and Applied Research 57 8 Education and Employment 59 Perceptions of the Education-Jobs Fit 59 Personal Skills Fit 59 General Education-Jobs Fit 60 Education-Jobs Policies 61 Shorter Workweeks 61 Paid Educational Leave 62 9 Lifelong Learning 63 Participation in Adult and Continuing Education 63

Contents vii Credit for Adult and Continuing Education Courses 64 Reasons for Taking Adult Education Courses 65 Credit for Prior Learning 66 Use of Public Libraries and Public Television 67 Hours of Informal Learning 68 10 Background Differences

70

Age 71 Gender 72 Parental Status 72 Educational Attainment 75 Ethnic Group 75 Family Income 77 Occupational Class 77 Political Party Preference 80

Concluding Remarks: Navigating the Knowledge Society 84 APPENDIX: METHODOLOGY NOTES 93

87

Tables

1.1 "How satisfied are you with the current situation in Ontario elementary and high schools with regard to...?" 16 1.2 "Overall, would you say that the quality of education received by students...?" 18 1.3 "Do you think the changes the provincial government has made in the school system in the past few years have generally improved, worsened or made no difference to the quality of education in Ontario?" 18 1.4 "How much education do you think a person needs in order to get along in this society?" 19 2.1 "Which of the following do you think should be the most important task for the Ontario government?" 23 2.2 "What would you like to see happen to government spending for the following purposes?" 24 2.3 "If governments decided to spend more tax money on education, would you favour or oppose, and how strongly, each of the following?" 27 2.4 Willingness to Pay More Taxes in Support of Ontario Education by Background 28 2.5 "What schools do you think should be given government funding, provided that they meet province-wide standards?" 29

Tables ix 2.6 "Would you favour or oppose, and how strongly, allowing private profit-making businesses to operate public schools in your community?" 31 3.1 "Do you support or oppose, and how strongly, getting rid of school boards altogether, with the provincial government taking over decisions on curriculum and spending?" 33 3.2 "Overall would you say that most recent changes in educational policy have given the provincial government more control, the same control or less control over how schools operate.?" 34 3.3 "Do you think that the provincial government now has, overall, too little, about the right amount or too much control over how schools operate?" 34 3.4 "Ideally, who do you think should be responsible for negotiating salary contracts with high school teachers?" 35 3.5 "Would you favour or oppose, and how strongly, giving schoolparent councils the power to hire and fire school principals?" 35 3.6 "Ontario francophones should have the right to control and manage their own French-language school anywhere in the province where there are enough students." 36 3.7 "Do you agree or disagree, and how strongly, that elementary schools should be able to skip province-wide tests if they think these tests are unfair to their students?" 36 4.1 "There are many ideas for how we can help Ontario elementary school students do better at school. How much do you think each of the following would improve student achievement?" 38 4.2 "At which grade, if at all, should the schools stream or separate students into different programs intended to prepare some students directly for the world of work, and other students for entry into community college or university?" 40 4.3 "Over half of students entering high school do not continue to community college or university. Which one of the following do you think would be the most useful thing high schools could do for these students?" 41 5.1 "Do you think students from low-income families now have a better, the same or worse chance of getting a higher education as students from upper-income families?" 43

x Tables 5.2 "Do you agree or disagree, and how strongly, that in Ontario today, both men and women have an equal opportunity of getting a higher education?" 44 5.3 "Do you think aboriginal students now have a better, the same or worse chance of getting a higher education than white students?" 44 6.1 "Every qualified person who wants to attend university [community college] should be guaranteed a place even if this means spending more tax money on the universities [colleges]." 47 6.2 "With government budgets tight, universities [community colleges] may be faced with the choice of limiting enrolment, reducing program services or increasing fees. What choice do you favour?" 48 6.3 "As a result of changes in the way high schools are organized, in 2003, both the last group of students taking the old five-year program and the first group taking the new four-year program will graduate from Ontario high schools. This means that many more students than usual will be trying to get into Ontario universities. Which of the following best matches your view as to what should be done about this?" 49 6.4 "If university staff and facilities are increased to cope with the larger number of students in 2003, how should the cost be covered?" 49 7.1 "How much difference do you think a university education makes for university graduates in each of the following areas?" 51 7.2 Views on Employment Prospects for University Graduates 52 7.3 "How much difference do you think a university education makes for university graduates in each of the following areas?" 53 7.4 "How well does the range of programs offered by Ontario universities meet the needs of our society? How well does the range of programs meet the needs of the economy?" 54 7.5 Importance for Making Canada a Better Society and Making the Canadian Economy Stronger 55 7.6 "The number of students admitted to university and community college programs should be based primarily on the availability of jobs for graduates, even if this keeps out qualified students who want these programs." 56

Tables xi 7.7 "When it comes to filling job openings in high-technology companies over the next ten years, do you think universities will graduate too few, about the right number or too many graduates?" 57 7.8 "Should the main goal of university research be to discover new knowledge or to provide solutions to specific problems?" 58 8.1 "In terms of your schooling, do you feel you are overqualified, adequately qualified, or underqualified for your current job?" 60 8.2 "Do you think that people generally have more education than their jobs require, the right amount or too little?" 61 8.3 "Government should establish a shorter standard workweek and restrict overtime so that employers will need to hire additional employees." 62. 8.4 "Paid educational leave is when employees can take time off on a short-term or part-time basis to learn new work skills but continue to be paid and return to their jobs afterwards. Which of the following best matches your view about providing paid educational leave?" 62 9.1 "In the past year have you taken an adult or continuing education course?" 64 9.2 "Did any of the courses provide credit for a diploma, certificate or degree?" 65 9.3 "Which one of the following best captures your main reason for taking adult education courses?" 66 9.4 "Do you think it is a good idea or a bad idea for people to be credited for learning they did outside of educational institutions when it comes to awarding high school diplomas, college certificates and university degrees?" 66 9.5 "Would you be more likely to enrol in a new education or training program if you could get acknowledgment for your learning experiences so it would require fewer courses to finish the program?" 67 9.6 "Over the past year, how often, on average, have you visited a public library?" 67 9.7 "Have you ever followed a course carried on educational television?" 68

xii Tables 9.8 "Please think of any learning you do on your own or with others that is not part of organized schooling or continuing education courses. This includes any activities in which your main purpose is to gain specific knowledge or skills/' "Not counting coursework, about how many hours in a typical week do you spend trying to learn anything related to your paid or household work, or work you do as a volunteer. Just give your best guess/' "Not counting coursework about how many hours in typical week do you spend trying to learn anything of general interest to you? Just give your best guess." 69 10.1 Differences in Attitudes by Age Group 72 10.2 Differences in Attitudes by Gender 73 10.3 Differences in Attitudes by Parental Status 74 10.4 Differences in Attitudes by Educational Attainment 76 10.5 Differences in Attitudes by Ethnicity 78 10.6 Differences in Attitudes by Family Income Group 79 10.7 Differences in Attitudes by Occupational Group 81 10.8 Differences in Attitudes by Party Preference 82 A.I Demographic Breakdown of the Sample 88 A.2 Recommended Allowance for Sampling Error of a Percentage 91

PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARDS EDUCATION I N O N T A R I O 1998: THE TWELFTH OISE/UT SURVEY

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Highlights

General Views: Satisfaction, Quality and Needed Schooling • Public satisfaction with schools in general has been on a roller coaster ride over the past two decades. In 1998 we find ourselves once again on a downward slope. Currently those satisfied with the schools are only slightly more numerous that the dissatisfied. Since 1988, when we last saw this pattern, opinions seem to have hardened. Fewer respondents are now sitting on the fence. • Well over half of respondents are satisfied with teachers' performance. The satisfied outnumber the dissatisfied by almost three to one. • Between 1994 and 1998, the public has become somewhat more negative about perceptions of changes in quality of both elementary and high school education. Previous OISE/UT surveys had found little change in views of educational quality. At both levels, about a third think quality has declined; fewer see improvement. • More people think changes introduced by the Harris government have worsened the quality of education than think these changes have improved education. Nay-sayers hold a margin of almost two to one. • Almost three-quarters of Ontarians now think that education beyond high school is needed to get along in society, up from less than twothirds ten years ago. Funding • An overwhelming majority now want the Ontario government to give priority to maintaining health and education services over tax cuts or deficit reduction. While a small proportion would opt to give exclu-

4 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998

•

•

• •

•

sive priority to health services and fewer give top priority to education services, the vast majority want both health and education to receive high priority. Over 60 percent now want real increased spending on all levels of education, the highest level of support since the late 1980s. Opposition to increased government spending in general is at an historic low. If more money is spent on education, favoured priorities include keeping university fees down, expanding apprenticeship programs and work-experience programs for high school students, and funding adult entry high school diploma programs. In the second rank are using more tax money to increase university student funding and improve university programs, as well as to reduce elementary school class sizes and provide junior kindergarten throughout the province. The Ontario public is quite evenly divided between those who are willing and unwilling to pay more taxes to support education, a pattern that has persisted for the last decade. About a quarter of the public support funding a single public school system; about four in ten favour the status quo with funding for distinct public and Catholic systems. Thus, 70 percent overall now support funding Catholic schools. About three in ten would fund private religious or all private schools as well. Support for a single public system has declined over the past two years in Ontario, at the same time as religious school boards have been eliminated in Newfoundland and Quebec. Most people are opposed to allowing private businesses to operate public schools in Ontario.

Governing Elementary and Secondary Schools • Almost two-thirds of respondents are opposed to getting rid of school boards with the provincial government taking over their responsibilities. • About three-quarters think that recent changes in educational policy have given the provincial government more control over how schools operate. Almost half think that the provincial government now has too much control. • Most respondents want school boards or, less frequently, principals and local school councils to negotiate contracts with teachers. Almost half are opposed to giving school councils the power to hire and fire

Highlights 5 principals (currently a board responsibility), while just over a third favour doing so. • Opinion is divided, as in prior years, over whether francophones should have the right to control their own French-language schools. • A majority disagree with allowing individual elementary schools to opt-out of province-wide tests if they think these are unfair to their students. This likely reflects the public's long-standing support of such testing province-wide. Re-Organizing Schools • There is a strong belief in the effectiveness of family involvement and the traditional basics as ways of improving student achievement at the elementary level and a lack of faith in the effectiveness of simply spending more money. Most people do not think increasing the time students spend in school or province-wide testing will be very effective, however. • The public does not think universal junior kindergarten or reducing class sizes in the early years of elementary school will have much impact, but does think that providing more special education to children with learning difficulties can make a difference to achievement. • The public has relatively moderate enthusiasm for technological "fixes." About half think putting a computer in every elementary classroom will make a large difference. This is also the case for improved teacher training, a view which may reflect satisfaction with teachers' current performance. • In spite of the protests of teachers and participants in the government's consultation process, the general Ontario public still favours destreaming Grade 9 and deferring the related career decisions until later. Public support for streaming students at Grade 9 or earlier has been declining since the early 1980s, and is now only supported by about one in five. • A majority of Ontarians want high schools to put more effort into getting students into vocational training programs after high school. Educational Equity Issues • Two-thirds of respondents perceive that students from low-income families have a worse chance of getting a higher education than children from upper-income families.

6 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998 • The vast majority of Ontarians think that women have equal opportunities to men of getting a higher education in Ontario today. Views on this issue appear unchanged over the past decade. • Nearly half of Ontarians perceive that aboriginal students have less opportunity than white students to get a higher education today. But just over half deny such discrimination. Universities: Budgeting for Access • The public supports open access to university even if this requires increased spending. Just over half think that every qualified person who wants to attend university should be guaranteed a place even if this requires more tax money. • In contrast, there is no consensus over what universities should do if underfunding by government continues. The public is divided over fee increases, limiting enrolment or reducing programs and services. • In 2003, the last group of students from the old five-year high school program and the first group from the new four-year program will graduate together, potentially doubling the number of students seeking places in university. Most people think universities should respond by increasing staff and facilities to accommodate the "double cohort," rather than limit enrolment or increase class sizes. Most want this expansion financed by increased provincial grants alone or in combination with higher tuition fees; there is little support for relying on increasing fees alone. The Importance of a University Education • Just over half think that a university education makes quite a lot of difference to chances of gaining employment after graduation, or obtaining a well-paying job in the short-term. But over two-thirds think getting a university education is important in terms of longerterm career opportunities or life-time earnings. • Two-thirds think college and university graduates are equally likely to find themselves unemployed. In fact, university graduates have consistently faced less risk of unemployment than college graduates. • Two-thirds agree that university graduates are more likely to obtain better jobs with higher incomes than college graduates. • Two-thirds think a university education has quite a lot importance to the personal growth of graduates. Less than half believe a university

Highlights 7

• •

• • •

education makes a great deal of difference to personal happiness or to a graduate's contribution to society. About a third think the current range of university programs serves the needs of the economy well; most others feel the range is adequate. Increasing continuation rates from high school, increasing participation from disadvantaged groups, increasing university research, and increasing partnerships with business are each cited by over half the respondents as of quite a lot of importance in strengthening the economy and making Canada a better society. As in prior all surveys, a majority are opposed to quotas on postsecondary programs based on job opportunities for graduates. More respondents think universities will not produce enough graduates to fill job openings in high-tech firms than believe there will be a surplus. The public is divided over whether the main goal of university research should be to discover new knowledge or provide solutions to specific problems

Education and Work • Over 70 percent of respondents say they feel that they are adequately qualified for their jobs. About one in five feel overqualified; only a tiny minority admit to being underqualified. • Ontarians are now quite divided in their general perceptions of the match between the education most people have and the education they need for their jobs. Roughly similar proportions think that people generally have more education than jobs require, about the right amount of education, or too little education. There has been a tendency away from "more" to "too little" over the past four years. • Support for a reduced standard workweek to create more jobs has declined from a majority to just less than a majority during the past two years. This declining support may be related to a recent upturn in employment rates. • A plurality of respondents feel that paid educational leave should be a matter to be decided in employment contracts, rather than a legal right or a privliege granted by employers. Adult and Continuing Education: Personal Experience • One out of every four adults report taking an adult or continuing edu-

8 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998

• •

• •

cation course in the past year, a rate that has declined from the early 1990s. But in addition to courses, adults now spend an average of 15 hours a week on informal learning, which appears to be an increase. The main reasons for taking adult courses are related to work. Over 70 percent of adult and continuing education courses taken are related to work in some way. About three-quarters think it is a good idea to recognize prior informal learning experience for credit and a similar proportion would be more likely to enrol in new education or training programs if they could get such recognition. Approximately three out of every four adults in Ontario visited the public library last year. In the past ten years the number of adults annually following a course on educational television has nearly tripled, from 8 percent to 23 percent.

Background Differences • Satisfaction with the school system declines with age. Younger respondents are more supportive and older respondents are less likely to support increased spending for all government purposes, for education overall, or for elementary and high schools. Older respondents are more likely to favour giving the provincial government responsibility for negotiating with teachers, and less likely to want school councils to have the authority to hire and fire principals. • Women are more supportive of maintaining health and educational services, reducing class sizes, and keeping university fees down if more money were available. • Differences in views of parents and non-parents about elementary and secondary education are much less extensive than age differences. • Willingness to pay more taxes for education consistently increases with higher educational attainment. Those with higher levels of education are also less willing to extend government funding to private schools. • Non-European respondents report stronger support for the abolition of school boards, increased tax dollars for university programs and increased teacher training. In addition, the non-European respondents feel that the presence of foreign students is an important asset to Canada.

Highlights 9 • Family income is associated with surprisingly few differences in views on education. A priority for maintaining health and education services (rather than tax or deficit cutting) is somewhat more common among lower-income than higher-income respondents. There are few signs of a tax revolt among higher-income groups, however. They tend to be just as supportive of increased educational spending as lower-income groups and equally willing to pay more taxes for education. • The distinct views of corporate executives in comparison to other occupational groups overshadows all other differences in views on education by occupation. Corporate executives are less likely to be satisfied with the school system in general; they are particularly distinct in being unhappy with the job teachers are doing. Corporate executives are exceptionally resistant to both increased spending on schools and paying higher taxes in support of education. • Supporters of the Conservatives are more likely than others to think recent policy changes have improved the quality of education; just over half hold this view, compared to a third of Liberal supporters and far fewer of those identifying with the NDR Few Conservatives but over half of Liberal and NDP supporters think that the provincial government now has too much control over schools. Over half of Conservative supporters think maintaining health and education services should be the main task of the Ontario government. This figure is again higher among other political groups. Among NDP supporters, a priority for maintaining services in both areas is nearly universal. Less than half of Conservatives and Reformers are opposed to allowing profit-making groups to operate public schools, compared to large majorities of Liberals and NDP.

Introduction

Our children deserve much better. And so we are making the changes that are needed to improve the system .... Our schools, and the quality of the education they give, is the blueprint for Ontario's future. I will not let struggling schools continue to decline, and deny our children and our province a bright and prosperous future. Mike Harris, Premier of Ontario1 With all the reforms, it's very chaotic out there. How do we add [funding formula changes] and implement [curriculum changes] without knowing what youVe got to work with? It's very very difficult. Lynn Peterson, President, Ontario Public School Boards2 Education is about developing the potentials of our kids and therefore the future potential of our society .... When the provincial government cut back education funds so it could fund a tax cut, we were outraged at this short-changing of our future. Weren't our kids worth the necessary investment? Canadian Auto Workers Union3 As I look back over the last few years, it is really quite difficult to find any good results that have come to our children from the education cuts. We have lost junior kindergarten, our librarian, a music program, opportunities for out-of-school

Introduction

11

experiences .... Each child is losing out on some very, very important educational tools. Ontario parent4

Since the last OISE/UT Survey of Educational Issues was conducted two years ago, there have been more structural changes in the Ontario school system than during any comparable period in recent history. In September 1996, the Minister of Education declared that Ontario was "looking at the biggest change in the structure of education in the province that's ever happened in my lifetime/'5 In April, 1997, the Fewer School Boards Act became law, which led to the amalgamation of 129 school boards into 72 and the reduction of 1,900 elected trustees to 700 with capped salaries of $5,000, effective January 1, 1998. In May 1997, annual province-wide standard testing of Grade 3 students began, to be followed by Grade 6 and 9 student testing every other year. In June 1997, a new high school curriculum, which eliminates Grade 13, resumes streaming in Grade 9 and puts more stress on basic subjects (including a Grade 11 literacy test) and career education programs, was announced. This was followed in September by the introduction of a new elementary-level curriculum with higher standards for reading, writing and math. During the fall of 1997, there was widespread controversy over Bill 160, which proposed a longer school year, increasing classroom time, capped classroom sizes, and provincial control of setting education property taxes. The bill was passed in early December, after the Minister of Education resigned and teacher unions held a two-week illegal strike. During 1998, the provincial government and school boards negotiated, sometimes bitterly, over a new funding formula and its consequences. The 1998-9 school year began in September with the longest ever teacher strike, three weeks, followed by back-to-work legislation. During the fall of 1998, the provincial government responded to school board threats of school closings by agreeing to maintain funding at prior levels for at least a year for those boards facing reductions under the new formula. As the year ended and deadlines for fall 1999 implementation of curricular reforms approached, various interest groups raised concerns about the rapid pace of these reforms.6 Continuing large increases in post-secondary tuition fees and major reductions in spending limits for high school adult education pro-

12 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998 grams provoked frequent claims that both advanced education and second chances (high school re-entry) were becoming out of reach of the less affluent.7 New scholarship and loan programs were proposed to offset fee increases.8 While government spending on education was being limited to fight the deficit, the use of personal computers has proliferated.9 A "knowledge society", in the sense of an ever-widening access to more forms of information and knowledge, has been rapidly emerging as debate rages over the role public education should play in nurturing it.10 In periods of substantial change and uncertainty, accurate readings of public opinion can be especially helpful aids to democratic social policymaking.11 There are strong indications in recent opinion polls that the vast majority of Canadians want their governments to place more emphasis on consulting citizens.12 Ways of reading public opinion accurately and in direct interaction with policy making (such as electronic referendums and deliberative polling) are increasingly available.13 Public opinion can be influenced in many ways by the most powerful social groups.14 But less powerful people often hold policy opinions that are firmly grounded in their own experience and just as coherent as elite views.1 Certainly, there is no warrant for ignoring the social views of any sector in a democratic society. Although well designed and widely disseminated opinion surveys on policy issues provide no guarantee of responsive policy decisions, they are necessary first steps in large, modern societies. The basic purpose of the biennial OISE/UT Survey of Educational Issues in Ontario is to provide regular representative readings of the public's views on pertinent policy issues, so as to enhance the general public's collective self-awareness and facilitate more informed participation in educational policy-making. The 1998 OISE/UT Survey is the twelfth in a series that began in 1978.16 It remains the only regular, publicly disseminated survey of public attitudes towards educational policy options in Canada.17 The OISE/UT Survey report offers both trend data and current profiles of public support for existing educational programs and proposed policy changes in Ontario. In the context of the wide array of current structural changes, the 1998 survey is highly relevant to current public deliberation and policy decisions in education. The Survey Design The 1998 OISE/UT Survey involves a representative random sample of

Introduction 13 1,007 adults, 18 years of age and older, who were interviewed via telephone in their residences across Ontario between October 29,1998, and January 31,1999. The survey was administered by the Institute for Social Research, York University, and achieved a response rate of 60 percent. The face-to-face interviewing procedure used in the OISE/UT surveys up to 1992 is no longer feasible, but we are confident that the telephone technique used since 1994 has had no adverse effect on the representativeness of our sample.18 As in all prior studies, a supplementary sample of corporate executives (104 respondents) also replied to a mailed questionnaire during the same time period. A description of the sample composition and guidelines for interpreting statistical differences appear in the Appendix. Question wordings are presented in most of the tables; the full questionnaire is available from the survey website: www.oise.utoronto.ca/OISE-Survey In reporting our 1998 results, we refer whenever possible to comparable items from the previous OISE/UT surveys as well as from other relevant surveys. Much of the distinctive value of the OISE/UT survey stems from the capacity to track opinion trends in an increasing number of issue areas by periodically repeating the same questions. Responses to each question have been analyzed in relation to various social background variables. These include: age, sex, contact with schools, schooling, religion, mother tongue, ethnicity, family income, occupational class and geographical region. Only statistically significant differences in these factors are reported in the text, mainly in Chapter 10. More detailed analyses of the social background differences for each issue may also be found on the survey website. The reported findings should not be generalized to specific localities beyond the regional analysis. We would like to acknowledge the wide variety of Ontario interest group representatives and individual citizens who have made suggestions to us over the past two years about relevant issues for the survey. Regarding the survey work itself, we would like to thank David Northrup and his team at the Institute for Social Research, York University. We are grateful for the research assistance of Leslie Ehrlich and Ellen Jeske-Lieto, as well as the secretarial help of Jill Given-King and Gayle Grisdale. Virgil Duff, Cindy Hall and William Wood provided valuable editorial help at the University of Toronto Press. The survey is funded primarily through internal research grants from OISE/UT. The Council of Ontario Universities provided supplementary funding for the present survey. While all of this assistance has been very valuable, the authors

14 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998 remain solely responsible for the final design of items and for the interpretations of findings presented here. We again invite comments and suggestions on this survey from interested readers to: OISE/UT Survey of Educational Issues Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto 252 Bloor St. West Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6 Attention: D.W Livingstone Direct inquiries may also be made to project staff by phone: (416) 923-6641, Livingstone (X2703); Hart (X2338); Davie (X2355); by fax: (416) 926-4751; or by email: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Further information on this survey and later updates on the other activities of the OISE Survey of Educational Issues may be found at the survey website: www.oise.utoronto.ca/OISE-Survey

1

General Views: Satisfaction, Quality and Needed Schooling

In this chapter we look at the public's general views and impressions of the school system. We report findings on: • satisfaction with the school system in general, with value obtained for tax money, with student discipline and with the job teachers are doing • perceptions of whether the quality of elementary and high school education has improved, worsened, or stayed about the same over the past ten years • perceptions of whether recent policy changes have improved, worsened or made little difference to the quality of education in Ontario • views on how much formal education is required to get along in society today Public satisfaction with schools and perceptions of the quality of schooling are widely used as general indicators of popular feelings toward the school system.1 In Alberta, satisfaction measures on governmentsponsored surveys of the public, students and parents have been raised to the status of official 'performance indicators' for the school system.2 Provincial governments, including Ontario's, have justified wholesale changes to schools by pointing to apparent public dissatisfaction with the status quo. Popular assessments of schools have become an important litmus test of the success of government policies. Satisfaction The OISE/UT surveys have tracked changes in satisfaction with the Ontario school system in general since 1979. In 1996 and 1998 we have

16 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998 TABLE 1.1 "How satisfied are you with the current situation in Ontario elementary and high schools with regard to...?" Satisfied %

Dissatisfied %

Neither/ Not stated %

N

50 51 55 42 36 47 50 44

30 29 24 33 37 29 34 39

20 20 21 25 28 25 16 17

1,084 1,050 1,050 1,042 1,011 1,032 1,000 1,007

The value obtained for taxpayers' money 1980 40 1982 . 40 1996 40 1998 36

40 39 39 43

20 21 21 21

1,108 1,050 1,000 1,007

Student discipline 1980 1982 1996 1998

33 32 30 31

52 49 53 50

15 19 18 19

1,108 1,150 1,000 1,007

The job teachers are doing 1998

62

23

15

1,007

The school system in general 1979 1980 1982 1986 1988 1990 1996 1998

NOTE: Scale: very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, very dissatisfied, don't know.

repeated more specific items on satisfaction with value for taxpayers' money and with student discipline, not asked since the early 1980s. Overall public satisfaction with the schools in general has been on a roller coaster ride over the past two decades (see Table 1.1). In 1998 we find ourselves once again on a downward slope. In our 1982 survey, respondents satisfied with the schools outnumbered the dissatisfied by over two to one (55 versus 24 percent). Six years later, in 1988, opinion was almost equally divided (36 versus 37 percent). In later years, satisfaction levels recovered while dissatisfac-

General Views 17 tion remained roughly stable. Our 1996 survey found half of respondents were satisfied with the schools; a third were dissatisfied. But over the past two years, public opinion has moved against the school system. In 1998, once again, those satisfied with the schools are little more numerous that the dissatisfied (44 versus 39 percent).3 One thing has changed since 1988, when we last saw this pattern. Opinions seem to have hardened; in 1998, fewer respondents are uncertain of their views or sitting on the fence. Public satisfaction with value obtained for tax money and with student discipline have consistently been lower than for the school system in general. We find this pattern again in 1998 (see Table 1.1). The dissatisfied outnumber the satisfied, narrowly in the case of value for tax money, but by a wide margin regarding student discipline. Public dissatisfaction with value for tax money has increased slightly since 1996. Views on student discipline are essentially unchanged. In 1998, we asked respondents for the first time, how satisfied they were with the job teachers are doing. Well over half (62 percent) are satisfied with teachers' performance. The satisfied outnumber the dissatisfied by about two to one. Over half of respondents dissatisfied with the school system in general were satisfied with the job teachers are doing. Changes in Quality Perceptions of changes in the quality of education have been much more stable than public satisfaction with schools. Between 1984 and 1994 public views of the quality of high school education became slightly more negative (see Table 1.2). Views of change in the quality of elementary schooling were virtually the same in 1994 as when we first asked in 1990. Since 1994, however, public assessments of changes in the quality of both elementary and high school education have declined somewhat. In the case of high school education, fewer now see improvement compared to 1994; more think quality has remained unchanged. In 1998, respondents are almost twice as likely to believe high school education is getting worse, than to think it is getting better (33 versus 18 percent). Views of elementary schooling show a somewhat different pattern. Slightly fewer people are uncertain of their views of elementary schooling in 1998, compared to 1994. Fewer also see improving quality. Higher numbers than in 1994 see no change in quality or think quality has worsened.4

18 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998 TABLE 1.2 "Overall, would you say that the quality of education received by students ...?" Improved

%

Remained the same

%

Worsened3

%

Don't know/ Not stated

%

N

In Ontario elementary schools has: 1990 29 1992 29 1994 29 1998 25

26 18 20 27

30 46 32 38

15 7 19 10

1,032 1,000 1,070 1,007

In Ontario high schools has: 32 1979 1984 28 27 1988 25 1990 1994 23. 18 1998

16 17 22 24 21 30

42 37 39 39 35 33

10 18 12 12 21 19

1,084 1,046 1,011 1,032 1,070 1,007

a

The term "deteriorated" was used in surveys up to 1992.

TABLE 1.3 "Do you think the changes the provincial government has made in the school system in the past few years have generally improved, worsened or made no difference to the quality of education in Ontario?" %

Improved Left the same Worsened Can't say N

24 20 44 12

1,007

As shown in Table 1.3, respondents are almost twice as likely to think that changes introduced by the current government have led to poorer quality education rather than improvement in schools (44 versus 24 percent). About a quarter think recent changes have had no impact on quality. Those who think that government policies have eroded quality are more likely to perceive that the quality of education at both the elementary and secondary levels has declined.

General Views 19 TABLE 1.4 "How much education do you think a person needs in order to get along in this society?"

Elementary Some high school A high school diploma3 Community college or trade school Undergraduate university degree Graduate university degree Can't say N

1988

1998

%

%

M

n/a [ 33 31 J 40 "| 11

13

I 64

3 J

1,011

2 I 23 21 J 45 1 14

•si

73

1,000

n/a = not asked a ln 1998 respondents were asked about academic and vocational high school education. The question did not explicitly reference high school completion, but this was likely implicit for most respondents.

The Perceived Importance of Education During the past generation, North Americans generally have come to view the relevance of an advanced education as increasingly important. In 1979, a survey sponsored by the Ministry of Education found that about a third of Ontarians thought that post-secondary education was very important. By 1986, when the Sixth OISE/UT Survey repeated this question, the proportion had increased to 61 percent. By the 1990s, about 70 percent of Ontarians thought that getting a university or college education was very important.5 Almost identical increases were recorded by the U.S. Gallup Poll during the 1980s.6 A 1998 U.S. survey found that three-quarters of the public felt that getting a college education is now more important than it was ten years ago.7 Confirmation of a still increasing public perception of the value of post-secondary education is provided by views on the more specific question of how much education a person now needs "to get along." Our findings on this question are presented in Table 1.4. In 1988, when the question was first asked, almost two-thirds of respondents indicated that education beyond high school (i.e., trade school, college or university) is needed. A decade later, this proportion has increased to almost three-quarters. A community college education is widely regarded as the minimum credential needed and more than a quarter now think that

20 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998 a university degree is needed. Conversely, hardly anyone in Ontario believes that you can get along in contemporary society without a high school diploma. There is clearly a widespread belief that we are now living in a credential-based society in which an advanced formal education is increasingly highly valued.

2

Funding Education

People's willingness to pay for public services should be a basic consideration in government policy decisions. In this chapter we examine public views on issues of educational finance. The chapter is organized in two sections. The first deals with the public's overall budget preferences for education and includes views on: • general budget priorities: tax cuts, deficit reduction or maintaining education and health services • preferences for increased or decreased spending on education in general and on specific levels of education • spending priorities for new educational initiatives • willingness to pay higher taxes for education The second section covers specific elementary and high school funding issues including: public funding of Catholic schools and private schools business-operated public schools Extent of Public Funding for Education Budget Priorities

Over the past two years, Canadian surveys have shown increasing public support for spending on social programs rather than tax cuts or debt reduction.1 Healthcare concerns have overtaken all other issues on the public agenda. But concern about educational issues has also

22 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998 increased relative to most other matters.2 Over the prior decade, Canadians generally supported fiscal policies aimed at reducing government deficits while also resisting cutbacks to the key public services of health and education.3 More recent surveys have found stronger public preferences for maintaining or improving health care and education over tax cuts or balanced budgets.4 U.S. and U.K. surveys have found similar patterns.5 The basic question now in Ontario is the extent to which the public wants government to maintain existing levels of education and health services, to continue the war on the deficit, or to cut taxes to try to put more money back into consumers' pockets. The general priorities expressed by Ontarians in 1996 and 1998 are summarized in Table 2.1. An overwhelming majority of nearly 80 percent now want the Ontario government to give priority to maintaining health and education services. While a small proportion would opt to give exclusive priority to health services and fewer give top priority to education services, the vast majority want both health and education to receive high priority. Less than 15 percent prefer the government to put its main emphasis on reducing the deficit. The support for tax cuts is minimal, at about 5 percent. As the table further shows, the priority for health and education services has increased significantly over the past two years, while relative support for deficit reduction and tax cuts has declined. These trends are comparable to those found in the other surveys cited above. There is now quite limited popular support in Ontario, as throughout North America, for either deficit reduction or tax cuts at the expense of established public education and health services. The social background difference most worthy of note is the fact that corporate executives are the only social group who now express less than majority support for the priority of maintaining health and education services. But even corporate executives' enthusiasm for deficit reduction as the top priority has declined from 74 percent to 40 percent since 1996 (see Table 10.7 in Chapter 10 for a more detailed profile of occupational differences in fiscal priorities and spending preferences). Size of Educational Expenditures

Trends in the Ontario public's views on the desired sizes of government spending for all purposes, for education in general and for specific types of education are summarized in Table 2.2. The main findings are that there is now definite majority support for increased spending beyond

Funding Education 23 TABLE 2.1 "Which of the following do you think should be the most important task for the Ontario government?"

1996 %

1998 %

Cutting Taxes Reducing the deficit and public debt3 Maintaining educational servicesb Maintaining health servicesb Maintaining both educational and health services Combinations Don't know

8 29 n/a n/a 54 7 2

6 14 1 6 71 0 2

N

1,000

1,007

n/a = not asked ln 1996, this option referred only to the deficit, not public debt. b ln 1996, respondents were not offered the separate options of maintaining educational services and maintaining health services. a

the rate of inflation for all types of education, but there continues to be less support for increased general government spending. Since 1984, most Ontarians have wanted government spending to at least keep up with inflation, but less than a majority have supported real increased spending. In the past two years, however, support for real increased government spending has grown to the highest level since our survey began in 1978, while support for decreased spending has declined to the lowest levels. This trend is consistent with general Canadian survey findings of increasing support for general government spending now that deficits have been brought under control6 Public support for increased real education spending generally has climbed back up to a high of over 60 percent, while support for decreased spending has dropped to a low of 5 percent, levels only achieved once before, in 1988. Public preferences for spending on specific levels of the formal school system (elementary and high schools, community colleges and universities) have usually been similar to those for education in general and remain so. Other Canadian opinion surveys have also found increasing majority support for increased education funding since the mid 1990s.7 Support for increased spending on adult education, in the form of either job retraining or adult literacy training, has typically been stronger than support for increased funding of formal

24 Public Attitudes towards Education in Ontario 1998 TABLE 2.2 "What would you like to see happen to government spending for the following purposes?" Keep up with inflation3 %

Decrease %

Not stated %

N

Total spending for all purposes 1984 26 25 1986 38 1988 25 1990 1992 28 22 1994 27 1996 42 1998

42 40 45 43 41 35 41 41

29 28 15 29 28 38 26 11

3 6 3 3 4 6 6 6

1,046 1,042 1,011 1,032 1,000 1,070 1,000 1,007

For all levels of education 1979 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998

35 36 35 46 52 61 50 54 54 48 61

43 50 53 40 34 32 38 35 31 34 30

17 10 11 11 11 5 10 9 12 14 5

5 4 2 3 3 1 2 2 4 4 4

1,084 1,108 1,050 1,046 1,042 1,011 1,032 1,000 1,070 1,000 1,007

For elementary and high schools 1975b 20 38 1980 37 1982 1984 45 1986 50 1988 61 1990 51 1992 55 1994 53 47 1996 61 1998

51 48 50 42 36 31 39 35 33 35 31

18 10 11 10 9 5 8 8 11 13 4

10 4 3 3 5 3 2 2 4 5 4

1,294 1,108 1,050 1,046 1,042 1,011 1,032 1,000 1,070 1,000 1,007

Increase %

Funding Education 25 TABLE 2.2 — Continued

Increase

%

Keep up with inflation3

%

Decrease

%

Not stated

%

N

For community college 1975b'c 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998

25 37 38 48 48 55 52 55 50 45 55

45 47 48 38 35 35 35 34 33 33 29

15 10 11 10 10 6 9 8 10 13 4

14 6 4 4 7 4 4 3 8 9 11

1,294 1,108 1,050 1,046 1,042 1,011 1,032 1,000 1,070 1,000 1,007

For universities 1975b