In 1964, following The Royal Commission of Inquiry on Education in the Province of Québec (the Parent Report), the Québec Parliament adopted the Act respecting the Conseil supérieur de l’éducation and the Education Act.
The Conseil supérieur de l’éducation (CSE) then comprised a Catholic Committee and a Protestant Committee to ensure the continuity of the confessional education system which, since 1875, was under the jurisdiction of the Conseil de l’instruction publique. The objective of these Committees was also to protect the rights of parents to choose “the institutions which, according to their convictions, ensure the greatest respect for the rights of their children”. The two Committees were dissolved in 2000 in the move toward non-denominational public education.
From its inception, the CSE adopted four Commissions, to which a fifth, the Commission for Adult Education, was added in 1969.
In June 1999, the Québec Government established the Advisory Committee on the Financial Accessibility of Education, which reports administratively to the CSE.
On December 14, 2006, the Government of Québec passed a bill amending the Act respecting the Conseil supérieur de l’éducation.
The Council’s mission is to collaborate with the Ministers of Education and Higher Education and to advise them on all matters relating to education.
The CSE informs the ministers about the state and needs of education. It provides them with a critical reflection based on research, consultation with experts and stakeholders in education, and deliberation by its members. It also advises them on the changes to be made in the education system over the long term. In doing so, the Council ensures that the public has a certain right of scrutiny and influence over the government’s interventions in education.
The Council carries out its mission by exercising three complementary functions:
Vision
The Council aims to become a leading authority and a renewed organization that develops and shares a comprehensive, integrated and evolving vision of education in Quebec.
Values
In carrying out its mission, the Council is guided by four values: