Primary and secondary teachers will have to prepare next Monday for their students’ return to class without being aware of the measures that will be included in the Quebec government’s catch-up plan, which will not be revealed until the next day. In this context, concerns are serious, as the start of the school year approaches, disrupted by the strike movements of recent weeks.
“What’s hard is not knowing, being in nothingness,” says Chantal Beauchemin, who teaches elementary school in Montreal.
In the metropolis as in several other regions of Quebec, students will return to class next Tuesday. The teachers will, for their part, return to their school the day before in order to organize their lessons according to the consequences that the strikes in the education sector have had on their students. The repercussions of these pressure tactics will be particularly notable among students whose teachers are members of the Autonomous Federation of Education, whose indefinite general strike lasted 22 days. Teachers who are members of the Inter-union Common Front held 11 non-consecutive days of strike during the months of November and December 2023.
In order to plan school catch-up students in the province, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, met with the various unions concerned as well as parent committees and school principals. However, Quebec teachers will only learn the details of this catch-up plan on the very day students return to class — January 9. However, this could, among other things, modify the school calendar by withdrawing certain educational days, while the government could decide to review the date of submission of report cards in order to adapt to the effects of this strike in the public service. Furthermore, the new dates for the ministerial examinations are known (read the article above)
“For me, planning the rest of the year based on what the calendar is at the moment or a modified version, that changes everything,” notes Mme Beauchemin, who deplores that the late unveiling of the catch-up plan will complicate the organization of classes by teachers next Monday. “I think everyone would have at least wanted to hear about this plan on Monday [8 janvier] to be able to plan this catch-up in class,” also indicates Annie-Sara Lemieux-McClure, who has been teaching elementary school in Montreal for 15 years. “But hey, we are used to doing miracles with not much in education,” continues the teacher, who denounces the fact that teachers will have to adapt “in real time” when the plan is revealed.
“It’s a sign that there are still a lot of threads that are not attached” in anticipation of students’ return to class, says Patricia Clermont, who is spokesperson for the I protect my public school movement. In particular, she doubts that the resources necessary to support students in difficulty, such as remedial teachers, can be deployed quickly and in sufficient numbers in the province’s schools next week. “I am very perplexed and worried. »
Unanswered questions
“We foresee a difficult start to the school year,” also notes the president of the Montreal Association of School Directors, Kathleen Legault. She expects that the “morale” of teachers will be weighed down by this somewhat chaotic return to class. “Our second concern will be the well-being of young people,” continues M.me Legault. She hopes that the government will focus on an increase in the number of “classroom aids” to compensate for the repercussions of the strike on student training rather than cutting educational days or “encroaching” on the summer.
“When we start to play with the calendar, it has impacts outside the school network,” recalls the spokesperson for the Regroupement des committees de parents nationaux du Québec, Sylvain Martel, who also hopes that the educational days as well as the week spring break will not be cut this year. Their removal could have repercussions on the holding of sporting and community activities in which many young people are involved, he argues. “And at the same time, we should not make children pay for what adults have done,” he continues.
However, currently, “I don’t see how we could make up for a full month of school without it having an impact” on student learning, fears Kiléka Coulibaly, who is president of the parents’ committee of the School Service Center of Montreal.
Lack of resources
Teachers will nevertheless be able to draw inspiration from the pandemic situation, which forced them in March 2020 to quickly adapt to the health context, which then ordered the temporary closure of schools. “We are going to focus on essential knowledge, as we did during the pandemic,” foresees Catherine Baril, a Montreal teacher. “It’s certain that for children in difficulty, the pace will disturb them, because we will want to make up for all that,” she adds, in reference to the learning time lost due to the strike held there. last year.
Chantal Beauchemin notes the importance of the government’s catch-up plan providing for the addition of specialized employees who will support teachers in the classroom. “But we still have to find them,” she sighs. Kathleen Legault, for her part, fears that the 2023 strike will have the effect of exacerbating the shortage of teachers by encouraging some to leave the field. “It was the last straw for some. »
At the same time, several teachers are impatiently waiting to be able to consult the agreements agreed by their union with the Quebec government. They will also be the ones who will have the last word in deciding whether these agreements deserve to define the content of the next collective agreements for Quebec teachers.
“It would be really disappointing if the agreement fell short of our expectations and we returned to pressure tactics. It would be disappointing for us and for the population,” notes teacher Annie-Sara Lemieux-McClure.