Parents and teachers were relieved Tuesday at the return to class of primary and secondary students who were affected by the strike which marked the education sector during the last two months of 2023. Concerns, however, remain about the challenges that these hundreds of thousands of children will face in making up for the many school days they have lost.
It wasn’t just the children who were happy to meet early Tuesday morning in front of Garneau elementary school, an establishment of the Montreal School Services Center located in the Ville-Marie borough. Parents also seemed delighted to reconnect in front of the entrance to this school building whose students missed 24 days of school due to the strike by the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE).
Beyond this excitement of seeing their little ones return to class, they also share a common concern: that their children will not be able to catch up with a delay representing more than 10% of the school calendar, due to an indefinite general strike which ended at the end of December after the FAE agreed to a proposed agreement with the Legault government.
“We are very happy to be back,” says William Arledge, who was leaving the primary school on Tuesday morning where he had come to drop off his son in the second year of primary school. If the father is relieved to no longer have to show so much imagination on a daily basis to keep his child occupied, he does not hide his concern about the impact that this extended leave could have on his child’s learning. son. “Teachers will have to move faster. I’m not very confident that they will be able to catch up. I know that my son has regressed a little, he has lost some notions of mathematics and English that he was learning, so we will have to catch up on all that,” he worries.
Lack of resources
A feeling shared between relief and concerns which was also felt in class on Tuesday morning. “The kids are happy to see each other and they can’t wait to get back to work, but at the same time they are anxious. Some are afraid of having forgotten everything” during the teachers’ strike and the holiday season, notes Montreal elementary school teacher Annie-Sara Lemieux McClure, contacted late this morning by The duty.
Tuesday morning, Minister of Education Bernard Drainville just announced a $300 million catch-up plan to compensate for the effects of the strike in the education sector on the learning of students in the province. Mme However, McClure learned on Monday that the special education specialist who accompanied him with some of his students with special needs was moved to another class in the same school.
“It weakens the students,” laments the teacher. Annie-Sara Lemieux McClure, who already had a lot on her shoulders, sees her workload increased, not to mention the fact that she will have to step on the accelerator to teach her students all the concepts they have need to learn by the end of the school year. At the same time, the teacher fears that this return to class will be marked by the departure of a certain number of teachers to other professions where their workload will be lower. “Shortage leads to shortage and it’s really a vicious circle,” she illustrates. It’s really heavy on the shoulders of those who remain. »
Met in front of the entrance to Garneau elementary school Tuesday morning, teacher Kimberly Charbonneau was also concerned about the magnitude of the task that awaits her in the coming days. “In all classes, there are children who have needs and we cannot provide for their needs, even if it should be a right,” she sighs. Expectations are disproportionate compared to the resources available in classes. »
Contacted in Quebec, teacher Sylvain Bérubé notes for his part that academic catch-up will be significantly less difficult to carry out in schools where the unions are affiliated with the Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE-CSQ), of which he is a member. , than in those of the FAE. His students were in fact affected by only nine days of strike spread over different times last fall, he recalls. “The impact will be relatively minor,” he foresees.
Mr. Bérubé, however, is concerned about the glaring lack of support staff in classes, such as remedial teachers and psychoeducators, who “fall in combat” due to the heaviness of the task incumbent on them. “If they help more people than they do now, will it really be effective as help? I ask myself the question,” raises the teacher, who doubts that the school service centers will have the human “resources” necessary to implement Minister Drainville’s catch-up plan.
“It’s hard to see how we’re going to make up for everything. Of course, everyone is crossing their fingers so that as few children as possible need help,” says Patricia Clermont, who is spokesperson for the I protect my public school movement.
An unknown agreement
Uncertainty also remains as to whether teachers will approve in the coming weeks the proposed agreements agreed by their union with the Quebec government. Otherwise, they could resort to pressure tactics again.
In this context, mother Cindy Nabias hopes that this strike will have had the effects desired by teachers, by improving their working conditions and salaries. “I hope they didn’t do all this for nothing because we supported them, even if it was complicated for us to continue working with the children at home,” notes the Montrealer.
“We need to be seen at our true value as professionals,” summarizes Annie-Sara Lemieux McClure, impatient to consult the details of the agreement agreed by the FAE with the government.