“We will resist resistance to change,” Education Minister Bernard Drainville said on Thursday, with the blessing of Premier François Legault.
Together, they defended the idea of being able to knock out the directors general of school service centers who make decisions that displease the government.
“We want to make the education network more efficient,” said Mr. Legault. When the results are not there, you have to have the power to change the people who make the decisions locally. »
This proposal is included in Bill 23, which has been the subject of special consultations since Thursday morning. The piece of legislation is presented as a follow-up to Jean-François Roberge’s school governance reform.
A structural reform that no one has asked for, which will not bring teachers back into the classroom and will in no way improve student success, according to the opposition parties in the National Assembly.
“We don’t need a second education reform. We have to stop the bleeding. We are losing legally qualified teachers every year,” said Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy in a press briefing.
“It’s not going to give more services to students in our schools, it’s not going to bring back more teachers, more professionals, it’s just going to make the minister all-powerful,” added Ruba Ghazal, from Quebec solidaire.
“With the current Drainville bill, we are more or less on the right track there. Why do we need to centralize? asked PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
In addition to the opposition parties, several groups came to criticize Bill 23 in the National Assembly on Thursday.
“There is a lot of resistance to change. Whenever you want to touch something, there are always lobbies who rise up to say: “Not me, above all, you must not change”, lamented Mr. Drainville in a press scrum.
“Of course, big changes equal big resistance, but don’t let that stop you. It is absolutely necessary to move forward with these changes,” he added.
Fears in the network
If Bill 23 is adopted, the Minister of Education will obtain full power to appoint the directors general of school service centres, to quash their decisions or to dismiss them.
The minister will be able to overrule a service center decision and “take the one that, in his opinion, should have been taken first,” reads the bill.
“We disagree,” writes the Regroupement des committees de parents autonomes du Québec in its brief. The perception of a decrease in the power of influence of parents could discourage commitment. »
“People in the field know their work,” also argued Nicolas Prévost, of the Quebec Federation of Educational Establishment Directors.
New institute and dashboard
Bill 23 creates a National Institute for Excellence in Education, whose mandate will be to guide the school network towards educational practices supported by evidence.
The psychologist and academic success specialist Égide Royer applauds this proposal, as does the proposal to improve data collection in the network and to create a “dashboard” in education.
In his opinion, this would make it possible to better act, for example, on the achievement gap between girls and boys. Mr. Royer, however, rejects the idea of transforming the Higher Education Council so that it focuses solely on higher education.
In 2016, the Superior Council of Education declared in a report that the Quebec school is the most unequal in Canada. However, Minister Drainville has reiterated since taking office that he “does not adhere” to this notion of a three-speed school.
“The Superior Council of Education must be maintained in its current form,” says Égide Royer.
The Confederation of National Trade Unions has already urged the Minister to abandon his reform to focus on the problems in the classrooms.
Consultations on Bill 23 continue Friday. A total of four days of hearings are planned.