This paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of official documents from Quebec and Ontario with regards to the functions of textbooks in science education. This analysis aims, in part, to reveal the various functions associated with textbooks in each of these Canadian provinces, as well as to expose their potential influence on how textbooks are used in the classroom. The results illustrate that the implementation of new curricula favouring a constructivist perspective was implemented without the status or role of textbooks being put into any in-depth question. The evaluation criteria lead to the conception of textbooks representing a condensed curriculum, training tools and information for teachers, tools for informing and training students as well as vectors for sociocultural values. As of yet, the conception of textbooks seem to be incongruent with the educational orientations that aspire to constructivism.

Functions of textbooks, comparative analysis, Quebec, Ontario.