Toronto: A new global city of learning

Toronto,Canada,isemblematicofanewstratumofglobalcities.Unlikemanyworldcapitals,thecityhasgainedstatureonlyoverthepasthalfcentury,havingsuccessfullypost-industrializedintoaneweconomyandbecomeamajorworldcentreforimmigration.Paradoxically,educationhasemergedasbothamajordriverofchangeandadividerofsocialwellbeinginthecity.Tointerpretthisparadox,wediscuss:(1)howTorontoisanodeinaglobaleducationpolicynetwork,particularlyasanexporterofequity-orientedreforms;(2)howthecity’sown schoolsystemreflectsongoingtensionsbetweenforward-lookingidealsanditsownhistorical legacies;and(3)howgoalsofintegrationarebeingchallengedbynewpressuresforeducationaldifferentiation,whicharethemselvesdrivenbycompetingconceptionsofmulticulturalismandmovementsforschoolchoice.


Toronto's path: From industrial port to centre for transnational migration
For most of its history,Toronto was an undistinguished industrial port situated along major trading routes flowing through NorthAmerica's Great Lakes region, part of a network of manufacturingtownsthatincluded Cleveland,Detroit,Milwaukee,andBuffalo.Torontolacked cloutnotonlyinternationally,butalsodomestically,standingsecondineconomicimportanceand populationtothecityofMontrealuntilthelate1970s.However,aconfluenceoffactorsinthe 1970ssentTorontoonanewtrajectory,transformingitsociallyandeconomically.

Emerging educational stratification
One key educational characteristic thatToronto shares with other global cities is a changing and complex pattern of educational stratification. In some respects, patterns of educational attainmentinthecityremainquitepredictable:studentperformanceremainsstronglycorrelated with socioeconomic status and family structure (Anisef et al., 2010;Brown and Sinay, 2008), andhigherincomestudentsaredisproportionatelyenteringmoreprestigiousuniversitiesand lucrative fields of study (Davies et al., 2014;Deller and Oldford, 2011;Willms, 2004).These disparities are interrelated with challenges of growing inequality in income, health, access to services, housing, and transportation found in many other world cities (Hulchanski, 2010;KirkpatrickandTarasuk,2009;Urquiaet al.,2007).
So why hasToronto been able to export many school reforms if such reforms have not proven to be effective? One possibility is that these reforms have a strong symbolic value. In globalnetworks,policymakersarekeentolearnabouteffectivepoliciesinothersettings,while otherpolicyentrepreneursareeagertofacilitatethespreadofpolicyinnovations.Inaglobalizing worldinwhichcitiesarebecomingincreasinglydiverse,andinwhichpolicymakersareexpected to address rapidly changing demographics, policy can serve as a symbol for action, a way of signallingtheircommitmenttoglobalvalues.Toronto'spolicyactorshavelikelybenefitedfrom beingassociatedwithCanada'shighstandingininternationaleducationalrankingsintandemwith Toronto'simageofmulticulturaldiversity.
One reason why these long-standing structures persist in an otherwise forward-looking culture is that families have adapted themselves to local school offerings. For instance, many non-CatholicparentsinOntariohavelongsenttheirchildrentofully-fundedCatholicschools, believing them to offer a more disciplined brand of schooling.Today's Catholic schools have large numbers of Muslims who are seeking some sort of a faith-based environment and, in response, some Catholic school campuses have constructed Muslim prayer rooms alongside chapels (Brennan, 2012). Furthermore, today's francophone schools appear to be increasingly populatedbystudentswhoarenotdescendantsofFranco-Ontarians,butarechildrenofaffluent professionalswhoarecongregatingintheseschoolsasanexerciseinschoolchoice (Sinay,2010).

New pressures for differentiation
At the same time that policies are being developed to promote inclusion and integration, demandsforschoolchoiceandeducationaldifferentiationaregrowinginmanyworldcentres (Bensonet al.,2015). Forseveraldecades,proponentshaveproclaimedchoiceasawaytosatisfy parents'needs,boostschoolperformance,andreduceachievementgaps(ChubbandMoe,1990;Nathan, 1996). However, research suggests that pressures for choice may reflect more of a process in which advantaged families seek differentiated niches in schooling as opposed to a desireforbetteracademics.Choiceschemeshavebeenpopularevenincitieswherethepublic educationsystemisthoughttobeperformingrelativelywell (ErginandSönmez,2006;Kimand Hwang,2014;Yoshidaet al.,2009).Inhigh-performingurbancentres,middle-classfamilieshave increasingly sought new ways to confer advantage to their children, often turning to private schoolingorotherpublicchoicearrangements.
Somepressuresfordifferentiationalsoinvokenotionsofdiversity.Oneoutgrowthofthe city'semphasisonmulticulturalismhasbeenanongoingcontestovertheverymeaningofthe terminpractice.Onemeaningisthatsingularpublicinstitutionsshouldstrivetoaccommodate allkindsofdifference,andbefullyinclusive,whiletacitlyexpectingeveryonetoadoptprogressive modesoflivingandembracingevolvingnotionsofhumanrightsforallkindsofracial,ethnic, sexual, and gender minorities. Others extol a more pluralist meaning in which deeper group differences are to be preserved through a plurality of institutions, believing that the inclusive versionofmulticulturalismultimatelypromotesassimilationandculturalloss (White,2003).

Conclusion
The city ofToronto is a new entrant to the ranks of global cities.Toronto prides itself on becomingoneoftheworld'smostdiverseurbancentres,embracingnewglobaloutlooks,and attracting large numbers of immigrants.The city's publicly funded education system has been internationallyrecognizedforhighlevelsofstudentperformanceandasaproducerofequityand diversityreforms.IndescribingTorontoasanewglobalcity,wehavepointedtofourimportant characteristics of its education system: how its emerging patterns of attainment mirror the stratified nature of transnational migration; how it has become an exporter of diversity and equityreforms;hownewglobaloutlooksstandinpartialtensionwithhistoricallegacies;andhow newpressuresaredrivingeducationaldifferentiationinthecity.Whatimplicationsmightthese characteristicshaveforotherglobalcities?

Notes
1 When Ontario's Catholic schools recently baulked at allowing their students to form gay-straight alliancegroups(GSAs),somere-questionedtheprovince'sfundingofthoseCatholicschools,arguing that no school should receive public funds if it fails to align with secular notions of human rights (Donlevyet al.,2014).However,thisdisputewassoonsettledafterpolicymakerspassedlegislation explicitly barring all publicly funded schools from preventing the formation of GSAs (see Ontario MinistryofEducation,2012).
ScottDaviesisCanadaResearchChairinData,Equity,andPolicyinEducation,andProfessorofEducational LeadershipandPolicyattheUniversityofToronto.Hehaspublishedmanyarticlesoneducationalinequality, politics, and organization; is co-author of three editions of The Schooled Society; and is co-editor of the forthcomingvolume,Education in a New Society.