Delivering an assessment of his mandate, the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, declared, in an interview granted to the To have tothat it will take “a good five years” before the teacher shortage is overcome.
We do not know if this semblance of commitment was intended to be encouraging, but, in fact, it is frankly distressing. In The dutywe could read that in Montreal, we “are currently experiencing a shortage of teachers such [qu’on] must recruit substitutes directly from university students in training”. It was in 2003, and the article was written by Marie-Andrée Chouinard, then a journalist assigned to covering education. And the teacher shortage, we talked about it three years later, ten years later, then just before the pandemic and even now.
To this persistent shortage were added these two particularly trying years of the pandemic for all school staff, starting with teachers.
The Legault government has adjusted teacher salaries by an average of 15%, recognizing that the profession was underpaid. It was essential. It has also invested in the renovation and construction of schools, a project that is far from complete.
Remuneration counts, but the task of the teachers matters even more, as well as their training. And that’s not to mention access to specialized resources.
For several years, studies have documented the phenomenon of desertion from the profession, as reported by Normand Baillargeon in our pages. The task is so demanding that teachers, fresh out of university, leave their career barely started, a profession for which they were trained. The Minister announced a plan to provide 100 elementary schools with two teaching assistants. This is only a pilot project: there are still 2,200 schools to be filled… We also promise to support mentoring for the benefit of new teachers.
Several problems beset the education network. A major reflection is needed — some call it a Parent 2.0 commission — on what we teach our children, on the best teaching methods, on the training of teachers, on the shortcomings that our schools must remedy, particularly in French , on how to transmit culture. This reflection is the business not only of specialists, but also of citizens. And those who see it as a national emergency are absolutely right.