Special education technicians (TES) in schools say they are exhausted and overworked, to such an extent that nearly 45% of them have considered quitting their jobs in the past six months, according to a survey obtained by The duty.
“We put plasters and we put out fires, which means that it burns the workers a lot because we don’t do the job correctly, ”says Mylène Brault, a special education technician who left last February the school environment where she had worked since 2016. “What we want to do is really understand the student, but we don’t have the time or the resources to do that,” says the woman who now works in the healthcare network.
The sounding was carried out last January online by the school sector of the Federation of Public Service Employees (FEESP-CSN) with 2,001 special education technicians throughout Quebec. According to the exercise, 43% of them have considered quitting their job in the past six months.
“It’s sad,” comments Angelo Soares, full professor at UQAM’s School of Management Sciences. These people do not consider leaving their job because they no longer like it, but because of the “very very disappointing” working conditions, says the specialist in mental health and emotions at work.
Work overload and violence
Of the respondents, 34% consider their work to be “fairly” emotionally draining, while 29% consider it “a lot” and 17% “extremely”.
Special education technicians are exhausted due to the work overload and the “constant increase” in violence towards them from students with behavioral problems, says Annie Charland, president of the FEESP school sector. -CSN.
When she worked in a special school with students with serious behavioral problems, Mylène Brault recounts having suffered physical attacks on a daily basis. “Headbutts, bites, hair pulling, scratching in the face, spitting on,” the 41-year-old woman lists.
She is not alone. 60% of special education technicians surveyed said they had experienced physical violence from students in the past six months.
There is not enough time to do prevention and manage emotions, says Annie Charland. “When we did prevention, in the past, I arrived in the morning and I saw the student getting off the bus, I could tell you: ‘I need to sit down with him, because otherwise I’m going to have a terrible day,” she says.
Having more time to prevent violence is one of the demands of the special education technicians affiliated with the FEESP-CSN in the context of negotiations with Quebec for the renewal of their collective agreement. This expired on March 30.
Joined by The duty, the Department of Education finds the survey results cause for concern. He says he wants to make rapid progress in the negotiations. As part of these, “several employer proposals aim to respond to the issues raised by special education technicians in schools,” writes press relations manager Esther Chouinard.
“Always do more with less”
Many special education technicians are forced to work during their breaks and lunch hours, says Annie Charland. In fact, 79% of people surveyed said they had to do without these moments of respite to be able to accomplish all of their tasks.
The lack of staff is glaring, says Mme Charland. “You always have to do more with less,” she laments.
Despite the recruitment efforts of school service centers, staff retention is a major problem, underlines Claudine Léveillé, vice-president for the special education sector and the general sector for the Professional Association of Administrative Staff (APPA). . “The conditions are not attractive,” she laments.
For special education technician Francis Marois, the greatest stress related to his work is financial instability. To be considered as permanent, you must work a minimum of 26 h 15 per week. The 32-year-old man who has worked in schools for ten years is 26.
Often, hours are added to it during the year, but nothing is guaranteed. After the start of the school year, he must wait until November before this is done.
Although he loves his job, Mr. Marois thought of reorienting himself. However, he put the project on hold because he bought a house two years ago. “It’s hard to stop working and going to school and meeting all the payments. »
Francis Marois is not an isolated case. Annie Charland believes that several school service centers are afraid to give employees permanence.
Without sufficient hours to support themselves, some workers have to resort to food banks, says Ms.me Charland. “Our staff is forced to have two or three jobs because they don’t work enough hours. »