Editing Student (section)

===Canada===
{{Further|Education in Canada}}
[[File:Work in the computer lab.JPG|thumb|Students of the ''Cégep de St-Hyacinthe'' in Quebec working in a computer lab]]
Education in [[Canada]] (a federal state) is primarily within the constitutional jurisdiction of the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|provinces]]. The overall school curricula are overseen by the provincial and territorial governments, therefore the way educational stages are grouped and named can differ. Education is generally divided into primary, secondary and post-secondary stages. Primary and secondary education are generally divided into annual grades from 1 to 12, although grade 1 may be preceded by one or two years of [[kindergarten]] (which may be optional). Specifically, Ontario, Quebec and the Northwest Territories offer [[pre-kindergarten|junior]] then senior kindergarten (in French, either ''{{Lang|fr|pre-maternelle}}'' then {{Lang|fr|maternelle}}, or ''{{Lang|fr|maternelle}}'' then {{Lang|fr|jardin d'enfants}}).

[[Education in Ontario]] from 1988 involved an [[Ontario Academic Credit]] (OAC) after grade 12 primarily as university preparation, but that was phased out in 2003. The OAC was informally known as "grade 13" (which it had replaced). All provinces and territories except Quebec now have 12 grades.

[[Education in Quebec]] differs from the other jurisdictions in that it has an {{Lang|fr|école primaire}} ("primary school") consisting of grades 1–6 and an {{Lang|fr|école secondaire}} ("secondary school") consisting of {{Lang|fr|secondaries}} I–V, equivalent to grades 7–11. A student graduating from {{Lang|fr|école secondaire}} then either completes a three-year [[College education in Quebec|college]] program or a two-year pre-university program required before attending university. In some English-language {{Lang|fr|écoles secondaire}} and most French-language {{Lang|fr|écoles secondaire}}, students refer to {{Lang|fr|secondaries}} I–V as years one through five. This can be confusing for those outside of Quebec, especially out of context.

In some provinces, grades 1 through 5 are called "elementary school", grades 6 to 8 are called "middle school" or "junior high school", and grades 9 to 12 are considered high school. Other provinces, such as British Columbia, mainly divide schooling into elementary school (Kindergarten to grade 7) and secondary school (grades 8 through 12). In Alberta and Nova Scotia, elementary consists of kindergarten through grade 6. Junior high consists of Grades 7–9. High school consists of Grades 10–12. In English provinces, the high school (known as ''academy'' or ''secondary school'') years can be referred to simply as ''first, second, third and fourth year''. Some areas call it by grade such as grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12.

In Canadian English, the term "college" usually refers to a [[Vocational college|technical]], [[Trade school|trades]], applied arts, applied technology, or applied science school or [[Community college#Canada|community college]]. These are [[Tertiary education|post-secondary]] institutions typically granting two-year [[Academic certificate|certificates]], diplomas or [[associate degree]]s and (in some cases) three-year [[bachelor's degree]]s. The French acronym specific to public institutions within [[Quebec]]'s system of pre-university and technical education is [[CEGEP]] (''Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel'', "college of general and professional education"). CEGEP is a [[College education in Quebec|collegiate level]] institution in Quebec that most students typically enrol in, whether to learn a trade or applied discipline or to qualify for entrance to university in the [[Education in Quebec|Quebec education system]]. (In [[Ontario]] and [[Alberta]], there are also institutions that only grant undergraduate degrees which are designated [[university college]]s to differentiate them from universities, which have both undergraduate and graduate programs.)

In Canada, there is a strong distinction between "college" and "university". In conversation, one specifically would say either "they are going to university" (i.e., studying for a three- or four-year degree at a university) or "they are going to college" (i.e., studying at a technical/career training).{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

A Canadian post-secondary [[college]] is generally geared for individuals seeking applied careers, while universities are geared for individuals seeking more academic careers.

University students are generally classified as first, second, third or fourth-year students, and the American system of classifying them as "freshmen", "sophomores", "juniors" and "seniors" is seldom used or even understood in Canada. In some occasions, they can be called "senior ones", "twos", "threes" and "fours".