A week after the return to school in the province’s primary and secondary schools, they still have to fill 1,957 teaching positions. There are also more than 3,400 positions to fill among professional and support staff in the public school system.
The number of teaching positions to be filled has decreased by 750 in one week, but 2% of them still remain free as of Wednesday, according to the most recent data from the Ministry of Education’s dashboard. This number is also higher than at the same time last year, since 1,331 teaching positions were to be filled as of September 4, 2023.
However, needs vary greatly from one region to another. In Montreal, 3.2% of teaching positions, or 705, are still posted. This percentage reaches 2.2% in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and climbs to 10.3% in Nord-du-Québec, which must fill 74 full-time and part-time positions in its schools.
Conversely, some regions seem to have found almost all the teachers they need. The percentage of positions to be filled thus reaches 0.4% in Estrie – which places this region in the best position in Quebec – as well as 0.7% on the Côte-Nord and 0.8% in Laval, among others.
In recent weeks, Education Minister Bernard Drainville has repeatedly blamed the rapid growth of Quebec’s student population—fueled by immigration—to justify the lack of teachers in the system, whose workforce needs have been increased by this demographic context. Unions, for their part, report working conditions that continue to harm the recruitment and retention of school staff, despite the adoption of new collective agreements by teachers at the beginning of the year.
Generalized needs
The need for support staff remains widespread in all regions of the province, where 2,711 positions remain to be filled (7.2%), a decrease of 1,011 compared to August 28. This is more than at the same time last year. This means that 1,901 school educator positions remain to be filled, as well as 810 special education technician positions.
This shortage has the effect of affecting the ability of schools to open and maintain four-year-old kindergarten classes, since these classes are often taught by school-based educators.
The lack of professional staff is increasingly felt, with the number of positions to be filled having increased slightly in the last week to reach 693 on Wednesday. This represents 10.9% of all positions among these workers that are to be filled in the public school network. These include psychoeducators, psychologists and guidance counselors.
The need for professional staff is particularly acute in Montreal, where 19.2% of positions are still vacant.