Elementary-Secondary Education Survey (ESES)
This is a national survey that enables Statistics Canada to provide information on enrolments (including minority and second language programs), graduates, educators and finance of Canadian elementary-secondary public and private educational institutions. It also provides enrolment information for home-schooled students. Information from the survey is mainly used to meet policy and planning needs in the field of elementary-secondary education in Canada.
Detailed information for 2011-2012
Data release - December 4, 2013
Elementary-Secondary Education Survey (ESES) is a national survey that enables Statistics Canada to provide information on enrolments, graduates, educators and finance of Canadian elementary-secondary public and private educational institutions. It also provides enrolment information for home-schooled students. This information is used mainly to meet policy and planning needs in the field of elementary-secondary education.
ESES is an annual survey that collects aggregate data from each provincial/territorial Ministry or Department of Education. Specifically, the information on enrolments pertains to the following two programs: regular and minority and second languages education. The information on regular programs is collected by type of programs (regular, upgrading and professional), education sector (youth or adult), grade and sex. The one on minority and second language programs is collected by type of program (immersion, as language of instruction, as a subject thought) and by grade.
The survey also collects data on secondary school graduates by type of program (regular, upgrading and professional), sector (youth and adult), age and sex.
Information pertaining to full-time and part-time educators by age group and sex is also collected. Finally, the survey also gathers expenditures data pertaining to level of government (school board and other government) and type of expenditures. This data is collected to determine how much is spent in relative detail by school boards and by provincial/territorial total. Finance data are not collected for private schools.
The information on elementary-secondary education statistics is used by provincial and territorial departments or ministries of education, national and provincial teachers' and students' associations, school boards, journalists and researchers, as well as international bodies such as OECD and UNESCO.
The goal of this project is to collect elementary/secondary expenditure data and to replace several surveys which were used for the collection of enrolment, graduate, and educator data:
- Elementary-Secondary School Enrolment Survey (ESSE - record number 3128),
- Minority and Second Language Education - Elementary and secondary levels Survey (record number 3129),
- Secondary School Graduate Survey (SSGS - record number 5082),
- Elementary-Secondary Education Staff Survey (ESESS - record number 3127).
Although this project collects expenditure data, the Survey of Uniform Financial System -- School Boards (SUFSB - record number 3119) remains active.
- Education finance
- Education, training and learning
- Teachers and educators
Data sources and methodology
The frame used is the list of all provinces and territories. The collection unit is the province. Annually, the department or ministry of education in each jurisdiction sends to Statistics Canada data pertaining to enrolments, graduates, educators and finance of the public elementary-secondary schools under their jurisdictions and private schools that operate in their jurisdiction. They also provide enrolment information on home-schooled students. This survey is a census of all provinces and territories.
The questionnaire includes three (3) tables which were originally part of an annual survey administered annually to all provinces/territories by the British Columbia Ministry of Education. These three (3) tables were collecting generic data on enrolments, educators and expenditures in Canadian public elementary-secondary institutions.
Following formal consultation with provincial and territorial departments or ministries of education, various national organizations and other data users, seven (7) additional tables were introduced by Statistics Canada to collect additional data and, therefore, meet the main data requirements of those various data users. The goal of this project is to collect elementary/secondary expenditure data and to replace several surveys which were used for the collection of enrolment, graduate, and educator data.
- the former Elementary-Secondary School Enrolment Survey (ESSE - record number 3128),
- the Minority and Second Language Education - Elementary and secondary levels Survey (record number 3129),
- the Secondary School Graduate Survey (SSGS - record number 5082) and
- the Elementary-Secondary Education Staff Survey (ESESS - record number 3127) as the official collection tools for elementary-secondary enrolments, graduates, and staff data.
Although this project collects expenditure data, the Survey of Uniform Financial System - School Boards (SUFSB - record number 3119) remains active. The main objectives of this new collection tool are to produce relevant, comparable and timely statistics and to reduce the respondent burden on educational organizations and school principals. Therefore, the content of these new tables is far more detailed.
This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.
Data are collected for all units of the target population; therefore, no sampling is done.
Data collection for this reference period: 2013-02-05 to 2013-09-30
Responding to this survey is mandatory.
Data are collected directly from survey respondents.
This survey is an administrative survey in which aggregate enrolments, graduates, educator and finance data are collected from provincial and territorial departments or ministries of education who originally collected the data for their own purposes. The survey initial contact consists of a written data request via e-mail as well as a table requesting enrolments, graduates, educators and finance data. This initial contact occurs each year usually in February and requests information for September (or as close as possible thereafter) of the previous school year. The provincial or territorial contacts are then followed up by e-mail or telephone. The collection method used is electronic. It consists of sending electronic tables to Statistics Canada.
The information obtained from each provincial and territorial departments or ministries of education consists of several aggregate data tables. A copy of those tables can be found in the included template.
View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .
Error detection is done at the macro level as part of data processing.
Statistics Canada performs a series of data quality controls, which include:
1) Checking for internal consistencies, e.g., missing and invalid data, data element inconsistencies, executing frequency tables and examining outliers for certain data elements. These edits are done manually or using basic spreadsheets and databases software;
2) Comparing the most recent data year with past data years to detect any unusual or unexpected changes. Counts and rates are compared with data from previous years;
3) Where available, comparisons of tabulated data or reports are made with the data published by the provincial and territorial departments or ministries of education.
This survey uses methodologies, tools and processing procedures allowing manual editing and imputation of aggregate data. For incomplete information, imputation is done using previous year's trend if available, and current data point. Depending on each case, imputation can also be done using data elements obtained from the survey and other key indicators such as population estimates.
During the data production process, Statistics Canada performs a series of data quality controls which include:
1) Ensuring that Statistics Canada data are consistent with provincial and territorial departments or ministries of education data that have been published;
2) Sending the corresponding electronic extracts and certification tables to each responding coordinating body for their review and approval to ensure that Statistics Canada and their departments or ministries of education obtain the same (or similar) results;
3) Reviewing yearly the elementary-secondary institution requirements for each province and territory in order to identify any changes which may have an impact on the data;
4) Comparing trends with other data sources.
Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data which would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization without the prior knowledge or the consent in writing of that person, business or organization. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.
The data are aggregated by province and territory. The tables are evaluated in accordance with Statistics Canada's policies on confidentiality.
In regard to client requests for cross-classified data, Statistics Canada does not supply any tables that could identify a student, graduate or educator. As a guideline, a cell with a count of less than five (5) is suppressed, and in order to avoid residual disclosure, other cells are also chosen for suppression.
The target population is very stable and the survey is mandatory, therefore minimizing undercoverage. The maintenance of close relations with respondents is an important factor in minimizing non-response. In order to obtain consistent counts of students, educators, graduates and expenditures, Statistics Canada ensures that all respondents follow common guidelines and definitions.
Generally, all respondents are providing data. However, the quality of responses may vary by variable. Some variables have a high rate of non-response, such as enrolments in Aboriginal language program or enrolments and expenditures in special needs education.
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