This text is part of the special issue on Trade Unionism
After a school year marked by a strike that dragged on, the approximately 66,000 teachers who are members of the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) are experiencing their first return to school since signing their new collective agreement. What are the main improvements they should expect?
The national agreement that was officially ratified last June between the Legault government and the FAE received a mixed reception, after 22 days of strike action. Daniel Gauthier, vice-president of negotiations at the FAE, is well aware that there is some disappointment among teachers. But he insists: significant gains have been made regarding class composition, as well as recognition of the profession and teacher autonomy. And these changes will concretely improve their working conditions.
Class composition
During the negotiations, one of the issues that was most often mentioned by teachers was of course the composition of the class and the integration of students in difficulty, notes Daniel Gauthier.
In total, the FAE has obtained $38.6 million per year for the next four years ($5.3 million for 5-year-old preschool, $19.1 million for primary and $14.2 million for secondary) for additional services in classes with the heaviest compositions.
But in addition to having obtained these sums, which can be used to hire classroom assistants, the FAE is proud to have succeeded in having a clear mechanism included in the collective agreement to draw up a profile of the cohorts. By April 30 of each year at the latest, school service centres will have to draw up a profile of each group, in order to identify where the heaviest classes are and where the assistance will be distributed. To determine this, we rely on the number of students with intervention plans and on those from immigrant backgrounds who receive intensive francization services or who have a significant learning delay.
“It may seem trivial, but these elements did not exist before. When we talked about the concept of class heaviness, it remained a subject that was sometimes not taken seriously. We were unable to obtain precise data to reach an agreement with the employer to recognize at what point the working or learning conditions become extremely difficult for both,” explains Mr. Gauthier.
A critical threshold of 60% has been set for elementary school classes. When this percentage of serious cases is reached, the school service centre is required to open a new class — obviously, if they can find a teacher and available premises. If, for one of these reasons, this is impossible, the teacher in this group will receive an additional amount of $4,000, and remedial measures will be offered, such as classroom assistance, for example. And if the school service centre is unable to provide these measures, the teacher will then be entitled to compensation of $8,000.
“The main goal is not that the teacher has money, it is of course that he […] has services, and the students too, specifies Mr. Gauthier. But in cases where this is not possible, obviously, it becomes an obligation of the employer to pay these sums to the teacher, taking into account the harm suffered.
In secondary school, the first target is mitigation measures, such as hiring special education technicians and reducing other professional tasks (ATP) for teachers who will have a group with more significant difficulties. The critical threshold of students with an intervention plan, who receive intensive francization services or who have a significant learning delay, will be 50%. The opening of groups will have to be considered subject to the availability of legally qualified teachers and classroom space.
More autonomy
Another important aspect of the new collective agreement is that of teacher autonomy. While they were required to report to school for all pedagogical days, they will now be able to choose their workplace for 25% of these days. An improvement that may seem trivial, but which was won “at the last minute,” according to Mr. Gauthier.
Teachers will also eventually have five additional hours of personal work time per week, which they can also do by teleworking.
The FAE is also pleased to have obtained gains for the gradual withdrawal of supervision of recesses. Quebec was funding the release of this time for teachers for the year 2023-2024 to the tune of 25 million per year.
This year, $33 million is being allocated to relegate break supervision to other staff members, such as daycare educators, for example. These periods will be freed up for teachers to better supervise students.
“Ultimately, in the year 2026-2027, there will be 40 million granted, and the following year, the government commits to paying the full amount of the release from supervision of recreation, adds Mr. Gauthier. We think that this progress constitutes oxygen for the teacher. It does not reduce his workload, but it creates space to allow him to do his job.”
Of course, not everything is won, but these advances will bring changes in the coming years and will significantly improve the working conditions of teachers, believes the unionist. The FAE also promises to follow very closely the implementation of all these new mechanisms.
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