Australia’s schools are among the world's most segregated in the developed world – harming our young people – but this report shows that solutions to create an equal school system are possible. The report is the result of a 2024 study tour of Australian educators and researchers to Canada to learn more about possible approaches that have significant potential to enhance educational delivery in Australia. It shows that with the right structures, regulations and funding in place, Australia can build an equal school system. 

Australia and Canada spend similar amounts on school education and share much in common in terms of history, culture and demography. However, Canada has much lower levels of social segregation in its schools, higher levels of achievement and consistently outperforms Australia in the OECD’s PISA tests across all learning domains. Each province in Canada has a distinct education system as the national government has no responsibility for education. This provides many lessons to learn from Canada’s range of school systems. 

The report calls on the Australian government to put in place immediately measures to report diversity and to commission a new review into the right combination of interventions required to increase socio-economic diversity in Australia. 

Key findings 

• Ontario illustrates the achievability and attractiveness of a common framework of resourcing and regulation which applies to all schools. The Ontario model promotes inclusion, equity and socio-economic diversity and enhances student achievement. It's also affordable. The common framework in Ontario includes both faith-based and government schools.
• Quebec has similar policy settings to Australia and the same problems, but an enterprising group of parents have created a powerful movement for change.
• British Columbia regulates fees in some non-government schools, but others still enjoy significant resource advantages and can actively or passively exclude disadvantaged students.