# 2025-001 Pay and Benefits, Education Allowance

Case summary

F&R Date: 2025-08-18

The grievor contested Working Group B's (WG B) decision to deny Education Allowance (EA) for his dependant to attend Okanagan Hockey School GmbH (OHS) in St. Polten, Austria while he was posted in Szczecin, Poland. WG B denied the request as OHS was deemed “incompatible” with Canadian curriculum as it followed the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. The grievor opined that OHS would give his dependent the best developmental opportunity and maintained that because the IB curriculum had been accepted for schools at post, that it should be accepted for boarding schools as well.

The Initial Authority (IA) denied the grievance. The IA determined that in accordance with Foreign Service Directive (FSD) 34, the grievor was not entitled to reimbursement of EA for his dependant's attendance at OHS as boarding schools must use a Canadian curriculum.

The Committee found that this matter was not sufficiently compelling to recommend that the Final Authority request that the Director Children's Education Management consider requesting a review of the WG B's recommendation by Working Group A. The Committee clarified that in circumstances where a Canadian curriculum is not available, schools at post which follow the IB curriculum have been approved to facilitate keeping children at post with the member. If there are no compatible schools at post, or the available options are insufficient, the member can send their dependent child to a boarding school that follows the Canadian curriculum. The Committee explained that, according to FSD 34, the grievor was not eligible for reimbursement as he had the option to send his dependent to the closest Canadian curriculum boarding school located in Italy; however, he did not avail himself of this option.

The Committee found that the grievor was not aggrieved and recommend that the final authority not afford the grievor redress.