The number of teachers who resigned has doubled in four years, it has been learned The newspaper. Since the start of the school year alone, this figure has risen to nearly 800 teachers while the shortage of teachers is glaring in Quebec public schools.
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In total, over the past five years, at least 6,200 teachers have made the same decision.
“It’s dramatic,” says Carl Ouellet, president of the Quebec Association of School Management Personnel.
Geneviève Sirois, professor of educational administration at TÉLUQ, also considers the situation worrying. “It’s crazy, something is really happening,” she said.
This data was obtained following a request for access to information made by The newspaper at the beginning of November in the 72 school service centers.
This is a partial portrait, since around forty organizations responded to our request. The Ministry of Education does not hold this information. These figures, which exclude retirements, may include regular and contract teachers, including unqualified teachers, certain school service centers have specified.
The vast majority of them, however, are unaware of the reasons that led to these departures. Not all teachers who resigned have necessarily left teaching, since some may have resigned to go work in another service center or in the private sector, it is specified.
Only two service centers, Les Découvreurs in Quebec and Marguerite-Bourgeoys in Montreal, affirm that their teachers resigned mainly to go work in another school service center “due to the availability of contracts” and “to be closer to their home”, or for family or personal reasons.
Difficult working conditions
But for Geneviève Sirois, it is clear that such a significant increase in just four years cannot be attributed solely to moves, a change of employer or even the increase in the number of teachers in the school network.
“The phenomenon is directly linked to the increase in workload and working conditions,” which are at the heart of the negotiations with Quebec currently, she says.
This is also what pushed Edith Lamoureux to give up her arms, after 17 years of secondary school teaching.
The story is similar among school principals. “You have to know why they are leaving, but we ask a lot of them. With the shortage, they also have to do substitute work to replace absent colleagues,” says Mr. Ouellet.
Archive photo, QMI Agency
Stop the exodus
Ongoing negotiations with teachers are crucial if we want to retain more teachers, adds Mme Sirois.
“If we don’t come to play a minimal role in working conditions, we won’t be able to slow down” the exodus, she said.
The Legault government should also work more to “retain” already trained teachers, rather than opening the door to shorter training courses to “bring more teachers into the system,” she adds, especially in the current context.
“With all the job opportunities currently, there are choices that have to be made,” she says.
Number of teachers who resigned*
- 2019-2020: 891
- 2020-2021: 1159
- 2021-2022: 1591
- 2022-2023: 1795
- 2023-2024: 785 (August to November 2023)
*These figures exclude retirements. This portrait is partial since it comes from 41 of the 72 school service centers. The Ministry of Education does not compile data on this subject.
