Closed schools looking for teachers | The Press

All public schools in the province are closed this Friday due to strikes. Meanwhile, school service centers are posting job offers to try to find teachers.

At the Draveurs school service center, for example, we are currently looking for around ten “passionate teachers” to fill several full-time tasks in primary school classes (1^D2^e5^e and 6^e year, in particular), but also in secondary school.

A scenario which is not exclusive to the Outaouais and is repeated almost everywhere in Quebec. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Education, on November 20, there were 934 teaching positions to be filled. More than half were full-time.

Looking for staff during a strike is an “inappropriate strategy,” according to Mélanie Laroche, professor at the School of Industrial Relations at the University of Montreal.

M^me Laroche participated, Thursday, in a webinar on negotiations in the public sector organized by the Interuniversity Research Center on Globalization and Work (CRIMT).

At the Draveurs school service center, it is indicated that the offers published this week “do not result from departures due to the strike”.

“They are rather a response to normal needs […] at this time of the school year,” writes its spokesperson Andréanne Desforges.

She specifies that “people hired during the current pressure tactics receive a promise of employment for the end of the conflict”.

The Fédération des centers de services scolaire du Québec also explains that a candidate “can be hired immediately, even in times of conflict, but he will take office after the strike or at a later date agreed with his employer.

The president of the Quebec Federation of Educational Institution Directors (FQDE), Nicolas Prévost, also says that the strike does not prevent teachers from being hired.

“There is always a delay before [qu’un enseignant] does not pay his union dues, the time to put the administrative mechanics in place, but the service centers will exercise caution: we should not put a new teacher at odds with his future colleagues,” underlines Nicolas Prévost.

A constant challenge, strike or not

Is the search for teachers during a strike more difficult?

Among the few service centers to which we asked the question, only that of Draveurs told us that it was “for the moment” difficult to comment on the subject. “At first glance, however, that does not seem to be the case,” adds Andréanne Desforges.

At the Fédération des centers de services scolaire du Québec, we were told that “in the context of a labor shortage, recruitment represents a constant challenge throughout the year, with or without a strike.”

This is also the opinion of Nicolas Prévost, who says that, strike or not, he would be “surprised” if candidates flocked following these job offers publications.

Many announcements have been made in recent years to try to attract new candidates to schools. For example, financial incentives have been offered by Quebec to retired teachers and those who do not hold a certificate are invited to send their applications for positions generally reserved for qualified teachers.

Professor in the department of human resources management at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, Chloé Fortin-Bergeron also participated in the CRIMT webinar. She believes that it is the working conditions that harm recruitment.

“The government wants to open teaching positions, that is part of its offers […], but if people don’t apply for these positions, what happens? ”, she asks.

The “disengagement with the teaching profession” is “deepest”, she also believes.

For his part, Nicolas Prévost observes that the shortage “is increasing from week to week”.

With Ariane Krol, The Press