The Canadian Education Statistics Council (CESC) initiated the Pan-Canadian Education Research Agenda (PCERA) in 1997 to bring interprovincial/territorial research issues that are important to ministers of education and training to the attention of the research community in Canada and to promote open discussion of these issues with different partners in education.

Bringing together participants from various educational stakeholder groups, including policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and representatives of educational organizations and funding agencies, this symposium was the fourth sponsored by the CESC for the purpose of providing a link between education research, theory, and practice.

The symposium took place immediately following an international seminar organized jointly by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), "Future Challenges in Education and ICT: Policy Planning and Practice" CMEC–OECD–Canada Seminar, April 28-30, 2002.