Parents who homeschool their children say they are excluded and ask Quebec to have the opportunity to complain to the new National Student Ombudsman when they encounter problems with the Ministry of Education, which is not possible for them currently.
“These are extremely uncomfortable situations,” says Marine Dumond-Després, president of the Quebec Association for Home Education (AQED), speaking of parents who experience disagreements and want to complain.
There are now nearly 8,000 primary and secondary school children doing school at home, compared to 12,000 during the pandemic. The office of the National Student Ombudsman confirmed to Duty be able to intervene only on complaints regarding the services provided by school service centers and school boards for home-schooled children.
However, the vast majority of monitoring is done at the level of the Home Education Directorate (DEM) of the ministry, underlines the AQED. Family files are handled by a resource person and the DEM ultimately has the power to close the file of a home-schooled child and send him or her back to school.
“A family that has issues or conflicts with the DEM does not have access to the complaint process of the National Student Ombudsman,” deplores Marine Dumond-Després. Parents therefore generally complain directly to the department that is the subject of their criticism. A process “which is not at all neutral”, according to the association, “because the family will complain to the person with whom they are in conflict”.
“It’s the opposite of correct conflict management,” says the president. In the end, families prefer to say nothing because they know that no one will listen and that, on the contrary, there could even be consequences. »
Even if the tone is generally polite and courteous in exchanges with the ministry, several parents are indeed exasperated with the current functioning of the complaint process, noted The duty through several testimonies from parents preferring to remain anonymous.
For its part, the office of the National Student Ombudsman indicates to Duty that parents also have the option of turning to the Public Protector. The perception of parents who wanted to try the experience is that the returns can however be very long, that the process is complex or anxiety-provoking, and that this recourse is little publicized.
“What we are asking is that the DEM be under the jurisdiction of the National Student Protector,” says Marine Dumond-Després, who is calling on Quebec on the subject. The office of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, had not yet responded to the Duty at the time these lines were written.
For its part, the Ministry of Education emphasizes that homeschooling families have several channels to complain in the event of a problem, including their contact person or the DEM coordination team, the department’s access to information and complaints department as well as the Public Protector.