The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, has been desired since his appointment last October, and the unveiling of the “seven priorities” of the one who directs the “priority of priorities” of François Legault was eagerly awaited. We can breathe easy: the Minister’s intentions are clear, consistent with the many emergencies that are putting pressure on the education network and are drawing on creativity and pragmatism, in particular to counter the staff shortage.
To build his “work plan,” Mr. Drainville claims to have visited some 50 schools with three of his colleagues. This field work allowed them to hear a few catchphrases, on the themes of the lack of teachers, the poor quality of French or the lack of staff support. The first merit of its work plan is precisely to focus on the most pressing issues identified by the players in the education network. He promises a subsequent detailed unveiling of each of these “7 priorities” so that we can know in a concrete way the means he intends to deploy to achieve his objectives. One can understand the opposition and certain essential groups of Education to have remained on Thursday on their appetite, because the action plan is made of good intentions but it lacks flesh.
By acknowledging the importance of improving the quality of French among students as a first line of work, Minister Drainville scores points. It contrasts with an overly jovial past at the Ministry of Education, where we tended to minimize failures and find good news where, however, we only saw gloomy matter, as if we were playing ostrich when there was in peril at home. The new Minister of Education asserts that the “only challenge that matters is academic success”, and he further acknowledges that “the pandemic has had an effect on our young people”.
Among other effects, there are those revealed this week by The Presswhere we learned that the results of the written French exams of 5e secondary had been disastrous in 2022, with failure rates rising markedly across almost all of Quebec. No one doubted that the frequent interruptions of continuous service in education and withdrawal from school, especially at the secondary level, would have harmful consequences. However, the Ministry of Education seemed to resist this relentless harmful effect for two years, practicing blindness. This time, the data is irrevocable. We must act urgently.
Mr. Drainville plays with inventiveness and audacity to attack a glaring problem of shortage of staff at the school – first challenge: knowing exactly how many teachers are missing. It announces its intention to accelerate access to the teaching certificate, perhaps by ruling out the need for holders of a disciplinary baccalaureate to complete a qualifying master’s degree of 60 credits, an obstacle course to be completed often in 3, 4, 5 or even 6 years of part-time study. “Several drop out because it’s too long and cumbersome,” says the minister, who claims to be somewhat lucid. Great news: it opens the door to a return to a pedagogy certificate of 30 credits instead of a master’s degree.
Necessity is law: the idea of maximizing the availability of educators in school daycare services — whose schedules are broken up during the day — by transforming them into “classroom helpers” seems to be a way out that unfortunately meets a need. now associated by teachers with a crisis situation. Teachers overwhelmed by too many students in difficulty and sometimes with serious behavioral problems can no longer devote themselves serenely to their teaching profession. To remedy the most urgent, and benefit from student supervision, these educators will come to offer a huge helping hand. But be careful, that this temporary solution does not in any way minimize the importance of adding support professionals to the class.
Didn’t the specific projects in the schools end up creating what was called in Quebec “the three-speed school”? Well the Legault government wants more, but with the most democratic access possible. The implementation of this measure could accentuate the inequalities of which many complain. This will be monitored.
Let’s hope that the Minister of Education also intends to shake up his department’s chips with regard to access to data and indicators put in place to accurately measure the vagaries of young people’s success. The fog that shrouds a number of priority issues and files ends up creating a generally worrying situation: not knowing what you are tackling is the best way to sink into inaction. We bet this is a situation that the current holder of Education will not tolerate.