Education

Evidence-based strategies related to all levels of education, including post-secondary and job training
(e.g., funding, subsidies, tuition debt, programs, access).

How to Navigate this Page

Select policy targets and evidence-based strategies that are priorities and achievable within your setting and sector. Align with your mandate, capacity, jurisdictional boundaries, and scope of practice.

Strategies marked with ☔ are important for populations-at-risk.

Entry Point for Action:
Reflects the organization’s or government unit’s sector scope and mandate

Policy Target:
Relates to the initiative’s focus

Evidence-based Strategies:
Concrete actions to guide initiatives’ design, delivery, and evaluation

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Expand Provision, Regulation, and Funding to Care, Education, and Transportation Services

Policy Target: Primary and secondary education

Government units fund and provide no-cost, affordable high-quality education to children

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Cumulative advantage pattern in the lives of disadvantaged children attending schools
Children’s chances to enjoy better opportunities to secure well-paid, stable jobs later in life (particularly those with disadvantaged backgrounds)
Children’s chances to experience better financial wellbeing into adulthood (particularly those with disadvantaged backgrounds

Government units consider education a basic human right

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Government units spending on public education
(In)Equity in accessing high-quality education (e.g., stratified by children’s social backgrounds, identities, and ability levels)
Children’s educational outcomes (e.g., educational experiences, cognitive skills, knowledge, and analytical abilities; stratified by family/household income)
Number/percentage of schools with programs providing the foundations of financial literacy and financial capability

Government units regulate the education system to ensure consistent high standards and place-based equity.

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Inequalities in high-quality education across school districts
School funding per school district
Number/percentage of well-qualified staff working in schools (e.g., in low-income neighbourhoods)
Educator turnover (e.g., stratified by neighbourhood income)
Retention rates (e.g., stratified by neighbourhood income)
Resources (e.g., computers, books) available in schools located in higher- and lower-income neighbourhoods

Policy Target: Post-secondary education and training

Government units provide subsidies to low-income individuals to obtain diplomas or certificates in post-secondary education and training institutions ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Education attainment levels among low-income people
Number/percentage of low-income people who report feeling encouraged and structurally able to pursue higher education
Number/percentage of youth in foster care attending post-secondary education and training programs

Government units strengthen regulatory frameworks and administrative capacity to oversee and enforce standards across the post-secondary educational/training system to ensure tuition affordability and high-quality of education services

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Number/percentage of regulated post-secondary education and training institutions complying with the regulation
Levels of student loan debts
Post-secondary education/training completion rates (e.g., stratified by socioeconomic status or race/ethnicity)
Number/percentage of students feeling financially stressed due to the costs of their education (e.g., stratified by household income)
Number/percentage of students considering dropping out of post-secondary institutions for financial reasons
Drop-out rates (e.g., stratified by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity)

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Strengthen Employment Security (Income and Benefits)

Policy Target: Income Security

Initiatives address people’s lack of access to sufficient and sustained income through education and job training opportunities, increase in cash welfare benefits, removal of minimum requirements for participation in welfare programs, and improved access to reliable, affordable financial services and products, including specialized loans with no or low fees ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Number/percentage of low-income people who enroll in free or low-cost education and training courses
Trends in the highest level of education achieved by adults
Availability of varied reliable, affordable financial services and products (e.g., to low-income people)
Availability of cash assistance
Perceived ability to provide for oneself and one’s family
Perceived ability to cover basic needs and enjoy economic stability (e.g., among low-income individuals and families)
Number/percentage of people who report having money left over after meeting basic needs

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Enhance Quality Education

Policy Target: Education and training

Initiatives address the educational and workforce training needs of people with no certification or degree to increase their employability, chances for securing better jobs with higher wages, and power to negotiate work conditions ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Levels of dependence on supports from government units and organizations
Average program receipt duration
Multiple, complex disadvantages experienced within and across generations
Number/percentage of adults earning their first degree or certification
Number/percentage of adults who previously did not have certification or degree transitioning to higher paying jobs
Number/percentage of adults who earned their first degree or certification and who feel they can request a salary increase
Unemployment rate (e.g., stratified by education)
Employment rate in the informal sector (e.g., stratified by race/ethnicity)

Initiatives provide equitable access to free or low-cost, high-quality education and workforce training. Initiatives seek to improve opportunities for all people – irrespective of their social backgrounds and identities – to secure socially and economically valuable jobs with economic security and a social safety net ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Rate of participation in apprenticeships among eligible people (e.g., stratified by age, sex, and gender)
Rates of part-time and full-time employment (e.g., stratified by race/ethnicity, age, sex, and gender)
Number/percentage of people feeling they can fully participate in civic and social life
Participants’ likelihood of being placed in a job with health insurance benefits

Initiatives adjust their programs to ensure qualifications, skills, and work experience of adults and youth are matched with the changing dynamics of the labour market, its needs and demands ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Number/percentage of staff who feel their programs adjust content and types of education and training whenever needed to better respond to the future knowledge and skills demands of a diversified workforce
Number/percentage of affordable or no-cost education and training courses, career planning tools, and other resources that quickly adapt to the latest changes in labour market
Qualification mismatch (e.g., stratified by immigration status)

Initiatives address the intergenerational transmission of the disadvantage cycle faced by working age groups who are the most exposed to chronic unemployment, such as people experiencing disability, racialized peoples, and older workers ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Generational complex disadvantage
Intergenerational transmission of welfare-income
Number/percentage of adults who grew up in low-income households who report working in higher paying jobs than their parents
Average income of the children when adults compared with income of their parents (e.g., for people with disadvantaged backgrounds)