The Institute of Statistics of Quebec (ISQ) confirmed this week what many lucid people had anticipated: the disrupted schooling suffered by the cohorts of the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on their success. For the first time in 20 years, the high school dropout rate has increased, which should place Quebec on alert, especially in a context where the labor shortage encourages certain young people to leave school for labor market benefits.
The most disturbing statistic in the batch of data revealed by the ISQ is indeed the return to a downward curve in terms of obtaining a high school diploma, after two decades of proud recovery. Throughout history, Ministers of Education and school authorities have shared the main goal of doing everything possible to promote student success. Glorious education indicators can only improve the economic and social health of a nation.
Several governments have therefore shared over the last decades an objective of undermining the distressing dropout rates, not placing Quebec in an honorable position within the Canadian federation. The government of François Legault, former Minister of Education having himself devoted a lot of effort in his time to increasing success and graduation rates, has made education an absolute priority, against all odds. the immense needs of health and the economy. Unfortunately, on the road to success, shaky pandemic management in schools and a glaring labor shortage constituted significant obstacles.
In the midst of a pandemic, some education leaders have put on rose-colored glasses, not wanting to see that the numerous confinements and the numerous interruptions of school services could only be harmful, especially for the most vulnerable students. The ISQ confirms today that the pandemic has dragged down the most vulnerable. This is obvious when we know that among the most important factors favoring success are consistency and the quality of supervision.
School dropouts therefore increased by 2.5 percentage points during the pandemic. The 2021-2022 data reveals that 16.3% of students left secondary school without a diploma in hand. The previous year, this figure was 13.8%. Among boys, the drop is 2.9 percentage points. But girls, whose exit rates without a diploma were relatively stable in recent years, also suffered a drop of 2.1 percentage points, a sign of the widespread effects of the pandemic at school, particularly in the first year. The latest data available in education dates back to this year 2021-2022. We can fear that this downward curve will continue for a while.
Academic success is such a fragile concept! These recent statistics received a worried reception from the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, whose normal reaction is, of course, to be concerned by this portrait, without falling into underestimation or jovialism. It is also a signal indicating that we must redouble our efforts to better supervise, “tutor”, and assist these students who are tempted to absenteeism and then drop out. The costs of dropping out of school weigh not only on the student themselves, but also, overall, on society as a whole, literally and figuratively.
There are family, social and personal factors over which the school cannot do much and which can be determining factors in the phenomenon of dropping out of school (the valuation of the school by the parents, the influence of peers, the self-esteem and mental health, work-study balance, among other things). But school is an extraordinary agent of influence! A good teacher-student relationship can work miracles. The presence of professionals in the school to support students in difficulty can play a determining role. A school team and school management united with the intention of doing everything possible for success can also create a climate in the school that is very favorable for the most vulnerable, who will find sources of motivation in this environment.
The Department of Education bears significant blame for downplaying the potential repercussions of a failing school while the prelude to dropping out played out. These statistics should encourage you to never neglect tools for measuring success directly. Is it not aberrant, to say the least, that we are receiving data today on academic success for the year 2021-2022, in the heart of 2024? In itself, this observation tells us about the terrible gap remaining between the vagaries of the field and ministerial governance, lagging behind reality, and therefore paralyzed from acting at the right time.