“We don’t want to arrive on the job market and be already exhausted,” says Sabrina Beaudoin, an aspiring teacher. On strike for nearly a month, thousands of teaching students at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) are demanding better internship conditions, including a salary, and more protection against harassment.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Since mid-October, more than 5,000 students from the Faculty of Education at UQAM have been on strike until November 20.
At the heart of their demands: aspiring teachers are demanding better protection against harassment during their internships.
More specifically, they demand that the Office of Practical Education, which oversees teaching internships, publish a policy against harassment of interns before the end of the session.
Note that a policy against harassment already exists at UQAM, as well as in the new law for the protection of interns in the workplace.
Despite this, students who are victims of harassment during their internship are too often “left to themselves,” laments Sabrina Beaudoin, student in 3e year in teaching the social universe in secondary school.
This is what Alissa Groux says to have experienced. Last year, the student of 3e year in teaching French as a second language would have suffered “psychological harassment” during her internship, she says.
The teacher who was supervising her allegedly gave her an excessive workload and threatened to make her fail a few days after the start of her internship, says Alissa.
On several occasions, the student asked for help from her internship supervisor, who nevertheless encouraged her to complete her six-week internship. “We are told all the time: if there is a problem, talk to your supervisor. Me, I talked about it, and they answered me: “Stay there”, deplores the student, who had asked to be changed class, without success.
And her story is far from being the exception, she underlines: “It happens at each internship, in all cohorts. »
To prevent a student from “falling between the cracks”, the Association of Students of the Faculty of Education Sciences (ADEESE) is calling for the establishment of a review committee to assess transfer requests. mid-term in the event of harassment.
This is all the more crucial since many young teachers are already leaving the profession, recognizes Sabrina Beaudoin. “Everything that happens in the middle of the internship, it feeds the fact that young people drop out,” she believes.
Alissa Groux agrees. “It is sure that if I live an internship like the last, I run away. I don’t want to be in the school system here, ”she drops.
For its part, UQAM assures that trainees can also benefit from “accompaniment, support and advice” from the Office of intervention and prevention in matters of harassment. “Also, depending on the situation, accommodation measures may be put in place,” said spokesperson Jenny Desrochers by email.
Internship salary
A long-standing claim, the salary of internships is also on the list of ADEESE demands.
The Association demands that the Faculty of Education and the Office of Practical Training also support the fight.
During their training, students must complete four unpaid internships. A scholarship of $3,900 was however offered for the last internship of the baccalaureate, but it was suddenly replaced by the new Perspective Québec scholarship program. Teaching students will receive $2,500 per full-time semester.
However, Perspective Québec scholarships are conditional on certain criteria, including that of studying full-time, which could harm students, fears Sabrina Beaudoin.
By email, the government recalls that the Perspective Québec program is “more generous than the other scholarship programs it replaces”. The Ministry of Higher Education (MES) is also working on a solution for students “potentially disadvantaged” by the new program.
The new Minister Pascale Déry met Monday with the student association “in order to initiate work towards a resolution of the problems raised by its members”, adds Bryan St-Louis, spokesperson for the MES.
“No opening” of UQAM
Budding teachers are also demanding accommodations for student parents, a reduced workload, and that travel by public transport to the place of the internship does not exceed one hour.
The Faculty of Education has been “in constant contact” with the Association for more than a year “on issues relating to internships”, assures Jenny Desrochers. “Discussions are ongoing and communication channels remain open,” she said.