Thanks to you, our readers, and all our authors, as we close 2024. Some stories that kept us busy in 2024 and that we’ll watch for in 2025:

How might potential shifts in federal policy affect early learning and child care? How are children doing at school, and how are governments and school boards faring at student inclusion and child safety? As always, we’ll keep an eye on both high-level policy and practical knowledge that helps parents in the everyday.

There are hopeful signs and visions, as well as ongoing barriers, with implementing decolonial, equity, anti-racism and environmental shifts in education. Campus politics are charged, painful and challenging in the wake of Israel’s war in Gaza, at a time when universities are financially on the ropes. International students are caught in political debate.

I look forward to working with authors and our team as authors continue to go deep into their areas of expertise. Many times, authors’ stories reframe the horizons of social debate and voice lesser-discussed points of burning passion.

An event which touched many people’s hearts was the passing of esteemed former judge, senator and Elder Murray Sinclair (Mazina Giizhik), who was chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada. As Canada marks 10 years since the TRC’s Calls to Action in 2025, please stay tuned for stories concerned with accountability around calls in education and inspired by Sinclair. Thanks to authors and all our team who have given time (and positive emojis) to discuss and plan.

Finally, I’m grateful you read The Conversation Canada. If you enjoy and have benefitted from our articles and are in a position to support us, consider making a donation here — we’re a charitable organization (tax receipts will be sent out in January). Donations go directly towards building our newsroom capacity, and all amounts help.

Susannah Schmidt

Education + Arts Editor

2024 in Education

Canada-wide child care: It’s now less expensive, but finding it is more difficult

Kerry McCuaig, University of Toronto; Emis Akbari, University of Toronto

The Early Childhood Education Report offers detailed profiles capturing how each province and territory are doing with implementing Canada-wide early learning and child care.

School board social media lawsuits: For too long we’ve sought individual solutions to a collective problem

Sachin Maharaj, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Four Canadian school boards are suing social media giants. This comes as 95 per cent of Ontario schools report needing more resources to support student mental health.

Shifts in how sex and gender identity are defined may alter human rights protections: Canadians deserve to know how and why

Debra M Haak, Queen's University, Ontario

Transparent public discussions are needed around how ‘sex,’ ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ are being defined and given effect in education, law, public policy and beyond.

Danielle Smith’s new policies make all Albertan youth unsafe

Florence Ashley, University of Alberta; JJ Wright, MacEwan University

The harms posed to trans youth are more than enough reason to abandon three proposed Alberta bills. However, trans youth are not the only victims of these reckless policies.

Black-affirming campus spaces are vital for Black student academic success

Fikir Getaneh Haile, Queen's University, Ontario; Beverly-Jean Daniel, Toronto Metropolitan University

It’s important that universities publicly acknowledge the importance of Black-affirming community spaces and the role they play in Black student well-being and academic success.

Indigenous students and faculty are on the rise – and universities have a moral obligation to support them

Jennifer Brant, University of Toronto; Frank Deer, University of Manitoba

When universities declare commitments to reconciliation, these commitments must accompany changes necessary to ensure Indigenous students are truly welcomed and celebrated on campuses.

Debates on campus safety in response to Palestine solidarity activism show we need strategies to navigate discomfort

Natalie Kouri-Towe, Concordia University; Sara Matthews, Wilfrid Laurier University

How university campuses respond to concerns about student safety can set the stage for learning or encourage its opposite: divisiveness and censorship.

How the oil and gas industry influences higher education

Emily Eaton, University of Regina; Jennie C. Stephens, National University of Ireland Maynooth

The fossil fuel industry uses universities to authenticate themselves as players in developing climate solutions, while they expand extraction and grow profits. Universities must disclose their ties.

Active or overscheduled kids? How parents can consider benefits and risks of extracurricular activities

Marissa Nivison, University of Calgary; Sheri Madigan, University of Calgary

Researchers with expertise in parent-child relationships and child development offer 5 tips about how parents or caregivers can find a balance between children’s structured and unstructured time.

‘So much mental load’: Mothers speak about school lunches

Jennifer Black, University of British Columbia

In Canada, where fewer than 10 per cent of kids regularly eat school-provided meals, parents, especially mothers, are left to juggle school lunches, often under major pressure.