Colleges Ontario

By Joanne Laucius

The Ottawa Citizen
December 4, 2009

 

OTTAWA — Ottawa’s Catholic school graduates were more likely to go to college or university than their public board counterparts, a sweeping study that tracked Ontario high school graduates has concluded.

Alan King, professor emeritus at Queen’s University faculty of education, traced 750,000 recent graduates in the study. Then he and his colleagues sliced the figures a number of ways, including by region and school board.

King found that 30.8 per cent of the Ottawa Catholic board students went on to university and 16.7 per cent went on to college — a total of 47.5 per cent. At the public board, 27.1 per cent registered in university and 9.4 per cent registered at college, for a total of 36.5 per cent.

“When you add college and university together there’s a huge difference,” said King.

The pattern held true in many other parts of the province. The York Catholic board sent 56.1 per cent of its graduates to post-secondary education compared to 45.7 per cent at the York public board. Meanwhile, 38.6 per cent of the Toronto Catholic board graduates went on to post-secondary education compared to 34 per cent at the public board — although the Toronto Catholic board was more heavily weighted to college admissions.

In all, seven of the top eight boards for post-secondary admissions were Catholic, including the sixth-place Ottawa Catholic board.

The board is third from the top when it comes to applications to college and universities among the 44 “southern Ontario” boards, with 60.9 per cent of graduates applying. The Ottawa public board was 13th, with 49 per cent.

The next step is to find out why, said King. (Both the Catholic and the public board declined a Citizen request for an interview, saying administrators had not had time to analyse the study findings.)

King is at a loss for explanations himself — although he does have an explanation for why 60 per cent of Ontario students enrolled in first-year college programs spent a year or more in the workplace.

Parents, teachers and schools often push the university option. High school students start out on the university track, only to discover too late that they’re not suited. About 30 per cent of students do a fifth year at high school. Others drift into work and find it a disappointing experience.

This creates a Catch-22 situation for schools. With so many students expecting to go to university, the numbers aren’t high enough for schools to offer a wide range of courses for college-bound students.

“So many plan to go to university that it affects programming,” said King. “The system has to serve kids in terms of the courses they want.”

Meanwhile, pressure from parents to go to university is “immense,” said King.

The researchers interviewed more than 200 recent high school leavers, both those who were in the workplace and those who had gone to college.

“In Grade 12 we only had universities come into the school, so it seemed like it was the only choice you should be making,” a recent graduate told the researchers. “And also just the stigma attached — if you go to college you won’t be as bright as university students.”

Another told the researchers of the role parental pressure played in her high school choices.

“My mom is, like, ‘No, you are taking academic courses, you have to go to university, you have to do this career …’ Do I get to do what I want to do or do I have to do what my mom wants? I get confused. Then I end up taking what she wants and then I fail.”

King’s study came to other intriguing conclusions about Ottawa:

• About 69 per cent of Ottawa students applying to college applied only to local colleges. It’s obvious that applicants in Ottawa “have a strong interest in remaining in their own community.”
• Both Toronto and Ottawa are short of university and college spaces for qualified students.
• “There are some kids who tried to get in and couldn’t get in,” said King. “And these people are, for the most part, qualified.”
• In a few boards, including the Ottawa public board, there are large differences between the proportion of students who go to college and university.
  

 

“We have never had a study of this magnitude with students coming out of high school,” said Linda Franklin, president and CEO of Colleges Ontario, which represents the province’s 24 community colleges and helped fund King’s study along with other education bodies, including the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

 

Students interested in going on to college often can’t get the high school courses they need or end up taking courses that push them on a university-bound track, said Franklin.

In many cases, high schools stream students into university-level courses when they should really be looking at college. It’s an important issue as Ontario moves out of a recession and into a labour shortage, she said.

Franklin also can’t explain why Catholic boards are sending more graduates on to post-secondary education.

“It’s clear right through the province. It needs to be investigated.”