Overview of the General Education System

The education system in New Brunswick, as a province of Canada, is peculiar for having the only officially bilingual system. English and French sectors are operating in parallel under constitutional protection. This dual-language structure is implemented by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Official Languages Act of New Brunswick to ascertain that both Anglophone and Francophone communities have equal access to publicly funded education in their language.

Supervision is shouldered by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD). The agency oversees curriculum design, funding, teacher certification, and policy implementation for kindergarten through Grade 12. Administration is decentralized to four Anglophone and three Francophone district education councils. Each of them has locally elected members who manage operational decisions within provincial guidelines.

New Brunswick’s educational system is organized into four levels. It starts with pre-primary (Early Childhood Services), primary (Grades 1–5), middle (Grades 6–8), and secondary (Grades 9–12). The curriculum is designed to be distinct for each linguistic sector to reflect cultural and linguistic heritage. Yet, both sectors adhere to the same provincial standards in core areas such as literacy, numeracy, science, and citizenship education.

The English schools offer multiple entry points for French immersion, while the Francophone schools ensure to include English language instruction to promote bilingual competence. Apart from that, New Brunswick places tight emphasis on the promotion of technology incorporation, with all schools connected to high-speed internet and digital learning resources.

Provincial assessments are administered in literacy, mathematics, and science in Grades 4, 6, 9, and 10, with a French Oral Proficiency Assessment in Grade 12 for Anglophone immersion students. Amazingly, the province’s high school graduation rate consistently exceeds 85%, which is considered as one of the highest in Canada. Public education is tuition-free, while private schools, including religious and alternative institutions, are independently funded but must meet minimum provincial curriculum standards.

Education in New Brunswick is compulsory from age five to age 18 or until a student earns a high school diploma. It has an upper age limit of 21 for public school attendance. Kindergarten, which begins at age 5, is a full-day program and serves as the official entry point into the public system. Early childhood education before kindergarten is not legally mandated but is strongly encouraged through the province’s 10-Year Early Learning and Child Care Plan, which aims to improve accessibility, affordability, and quality of pre-kindergarten services.

Students transition through primary school (Grades 1–5), middle school (Grades 6–8), and secondary school (Grades 9–12), with each transition marking increased subject specialization and preparation for post-secondary or workforce pathways. Attendance laws require continuous enrolment until graduation or reaching the legal school-leaving age, and exemptions are rare, granted only for approved alternative learning arrangements or exceptional circumstances.

New Brunswick’s higher education system is consistent in reflecting the province’s bilingual and bicultural heritage, as it offers programs in both English and French across universities, community colleges, and private institutions.

The province has eight universities, four of which are publicly funded, and five publicly funded colleges. These are all supervised under the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour (PETL). As for the quality assurance and degree program approval for public universities, these are managed by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission (MPHEC), which sought to ensure that programs meet regional academic and labour market standards.

Universities in New Brunswick provide a wide array of credentials from bachelor’s to doctoral degrees. Colleges offer diplomas, certificates, and applied degrees in technical, vocational, and professional fields. The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is one of the oldest public universities in North America as it was established in 1785 and a frontliner in engineering, business, and computer science. Université de Moncton is the largest Francophone university outside Quebec, and serves students across three campuses, while Mount Allison University is consistently ranked among Canada’s top undergraduate universities. Furthermore, the New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) and the Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick (CCNB) bring industry-aligned programs in trades, health care, business, and technology, often in partnership with employers.

Admission into university requires the New Brunswick High School Diploma, with specified course prerequisites, while colleges can admit mature students or those with non-traditional qualifications. Many institutions also participate in credit transfer agreements within the Atlantic region, which enables students to shift between programs without loss of academic credit.