Educational assessment in Canada revisited
Abstract
This article provides an overview of Canada’s decentralised education systems and describes recent changes in provincial, national, and international large-scale assessment programmes. We focus our analysis on the last 17 years to describe notable developments in policy and practice across Canada’s 10 autonomous provincial jurisdictions and 3 territories. The discussion examines the continued tensions that exist between formative and summative purposes of assessment, including large-scale assessment, along with the changing nature of educational accountability and importance of assessment fairness. The authors situate assessment policy reforms within the broader global context that has emphasised neoliberal reforms in education, with implications for international work in assessment.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Student Assessment and Feedback
Educational and Psychological Assessments
Global Educational Policies and Reforms
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Assessment in Education Principles Policy and Practice
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 329–347
- Publication date
- 4 May 2026
- Language
- EN