A week before the start of the school year, CEGEPs are still recruiting teachers and are considering giving certain courses remotely or overloading the schedules to deal with the shortage.
“The operation of CEGEPs is undermined,” worried Youri Blanchet, president of the Federation of College Education, at a press conference yesterday morning.
“As of June, we felt a movement of panic in the unions […] Usually, the tasks are already filled for the fall at that time”, illustrates Mr. Blanchet.
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Yuri Blanchet. President FEC-CSQ
Yesterday afternoon, the Cégep de Matane was meeting candidates who could teach in electrical engineering technology, while the students will be on the benches next Monday.
At the Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, we couldn’t find the teacher they needed in pharmacy techniques. Two fall courses supposed to be given in Amos will therefore be given remotely by the Cégep de Baie-Comeau.
Especially technical
The most affected programs are those of techniques. Indeed, pharmacists, engineers and nurses can work in industry for much more attractive conditions.
Students are unlikely to end up in a class without a teacher, but it is possible for a lesson to start later and then have to be condensed, says Blanchet.
In many cases, it is the other teachers in the department who will share the remaining course loads.
This is how at Collège Lionel-Groulx, in Sainte-Thérèse, we managed to assign all the courses. But at what cost?
“It’s a situation that allows students to follow their study program, but creates a significant overload for staff,” explains Julie Loyer of the communications department.
This overload comes on top of the “perverse effects of the pandemic”, abounds Youri Blanchet, who recalls that students arrive with pitfalls in their learning due in particular to distance education.
Competing with hospitals
Still, even before the pandemic, it was not uncommon for a CEGEP to have to recruit at the last minute, nuance Bernard Tremblay, president of the Federation of CEGEPs.
“What is new are the efforts we must make” to attract candidates, notes Marie-Claude Dupoy, director of communications at the Cégep de Sherbrooke.
There, at least one person is still missing to teach computer science, nursing, and even physical education for future police officers.
In terms of health fields, CEGEPs are in competition with hospitals and pharmacies, where the staff shortage is glaring, recalls Mr. Tremblay.
“Hospitals are pulling very hard to hold them back. [Nous disons] at the CIUSSS: I understand that you need people, but you have to free them up if you want to develop the next generation,” says Mr. Tremblay.