2021-22 K-12 E-Learning National Overview

Since 2011 the annual State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada study has received consistent participation from the majority of Ministries of Education (and federal authorities since 2013). In some cases the Ministries collected and published detailed information. However, there are other instances where the Ministries do not collect any data related to K-12 distance, online, and/or blended learning. The data collected from Ministry sources are compared with the information received from other key parties in various jurisdictions, as well as an analysis of available documents. In some instances the data from Ministries and parties sourced agree, while in other cases there is some inconsistency between the stated governance regime and experiences of others. The sponsorship of the CANeLearn that began in 2014 has significantly increased the network of stakeholders available to the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada team. This sponsorship has also helped to foster the collection of data from the individual program survey. The response rate for the 2021-22 school year was only 16%, which continues to be among the lowest response rates since the individual survey was introduced. However, over the past twelve years (i.e., since the individual program survey was first introduced for the 2010-11 school year), the project has received at least one response from 43% of the programs in Canada (see Table 3). This figure has decreased this year due to the influx of new K-12 distance, online, and blended learning programs – likely due to the pandemic.

Table 3. Historic individual program survey responses

Conversely, it is also important to note that this reality means that the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada project team have never received any data from over half of the known K-12 e-learning programs in Canada. While most jurisdictions are above the national average response rate, K-12 e-learning programs in Manitoba remain well below the national average in terms of participating in the annual study. Additionally, over the past year or two there has been a significant growth in the number of educational bodies providing K-12 distance learning, and the project team has not been able to identify these news providers or may not have solid contacts for these providers. While the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada project team is confident in the information included in this report and on the project website, these limitations in the data collection must be recognized.