School enrolments and teaching staff

Enrolment in elementary and secondary schools remained almost flat during the last half of the 1990s, while the number of teachers in Canadian schools increased.

Just over 5,442,000 children were enrolled in schools in the academic year 1999/2000, an increase of only 0.2% from 1995/96.

From 1995/96 to 1999/2000, student enrolment increased in only Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, as well as the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

The largest increase in enrolment occurred in Alberta (+5.4%). This is consistent with data from the 2001 Census, which showed that Alberta's population soared 10.3% from 1996 to 2001, largely the result of interprovincial migration. At the same time, the number of full-time teachers in Alberta fell 1.5% to 29,338.

These data cover public and private schools, as well as First Nation schools, federally-administered schools and Armed Forces schools overseas.

In 1999/2000, public schools accounted for 93% of total enrolment, compared with 6% for private schools. These proportions were more or less constant throughout the late 1990s.

From 1995/96 to 1999/2000, the number of full-time teachers rose 3.7% to a record 309,593. The number of full-time teachers declined in Alberta and in two other provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. The number of part-time teachers increased in most jurisdictions.

The biggest declines in student enrolment and in the teaching population both occurred in Newfoundland and Labrador. The number of students fell 14.4% during the five-year period, while the number of full-time teachers fell 12.8% to 6,351. At the same time, the census showed that Newfoundland and Labrador's population declined 7.0%.

Teaching became an even more female-dominated profession during the 1990s. In 1999/2000, women accounted for 64% of the total, compared with 59% a decade earlier.

Two-thirds (68%) of New Brunswick's full-time educators were female in 1999/2000, the highest proportion, compared with 58% in Newfoundland and Labrador, the lowest.

Even though the average age of teachers remained constant, a considerable number of them moved into the older age cohort. In 1999/2000, 34% of teachers were aged 50 or over. This was double the proportion of only 16% a decade earlier.

On a national scale, the pupil-teacher ratio remained fairly constant during the last half of the 1990s, dropping marginally from 16.1 pupils for every teacher in 1995/96 to 15.6 in 1999/2000.

The ratio declined in every province except Ontario, where there was a slight increase. In Alberta, despite a large increase in enrolment and a decline in full-time teachers, the ratio declined because of the large increase in the number of part-time teachers. The decrease in the pupil-teacher ratios from 1995/96 to 1999/2000 and from 1998/99 to 1999/2000 were strongest in Nova Scotia and Quebec.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers, including related surveys, 3127 and 3128.

For general information or to order data, contact Client Services (1-800-307-3382; 613-951-7608; educationstats@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Isabelle Thony (613-951-0475; isabelle.thony@statcan.gc.ca) or Kathleen Trudeau (613-951-4440; kathleen.trudeau@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.