The pieces of the education puzzle are starting to fit together to provide a holistic picture of the situation and provide government with the tools needed to accelerate transformation.
First of all, the signing of collective agreements followed by their ratification makes it possible to eliminate a certain amount of uncertainty, or even resistance as a means of pressure.
A real boss
Then, this new law guarantees that the directors of school service centers are ultimately appointed (and ousted!) by the Council of Ministers, thus creating a real hierarchy and a direct chain of command between the minister and the school service centers. Finally becoming the real boss of education stakeholders, the minister can wave the carrot and the stick, if necessary.
Finally, all Quebecers and the government now have reliable, homogeneous and almost real-time collected data, which makes it possible to quickly identify issues and prioritize them proactively. This data will ultimately enable decisions to be made faster and more effectively.
It is a shame that it took the adoption of a bill to finally equip ourselves with such a fundamental tool.
Now let’s get to the results
It took time to identify and equip ourselves with the levers necessary for the diagnosis and evaluation of the public education network. Now it is time to implement the necessary shock treatment and measure the results.
Minister Drainville has managed to confound the skeptics thus far and has proven himself up to the task that is his. He leads the fight against bureaucracy and inaction with great courage. This courage must now produce the expected results, whether in terms of attracting and retaining teachers, combating school dropouts, promoting excellence, emulation and healthy competition.
Competition
Moreover, speaking of competition, it is quite curious to see the rise of certain unions since the desire to create a ranking of schools was announced, taking into account the particular challenges of each establishment. Remember that our education system is already compared to that of other jurisdictions or countries on the basis of the famous PISA tests. These same tests allow Quebec to compare itself to other Canadian provinces.
Why would comparisons suddenly be ill-advised?