The shortage affecting the education sector does not only affect teachers, but many other job groups among support and professional staff, where thousands of positions remain to be filled one week before the start of the school year, various unions affiliated with the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) were keen to point out on Monday.
Last Friday, Education Minister Bernard Drainville released data indicating a shortage of 5,704 teachers in the public school system, in anticipation of the start of the school year. However, he did not mention the shortage among support staff, which includes daycare educators and special education technicians. The same goes for professional staff, which includes guidance counsellors and special education teachers, among others.
However, “there has been a shortage for several years for all staff,” insisted CSQ President Éric Gingras on Monday at a press conference in Montreal. “And there will be a shortage for many more years to come,” continued the union leader, according to whom “the shortage we are experiencing today is the result of decades of cuts and poor choices in education.” Hence the importance, believes Mr. Gingras, of holding a “major reflection” on the education sector so that the issues that mark it are addressed in the long term, and not “with a view to the next election campaign.”
“In cities and aqueducts, when we don’t put in the necessary money, we see what it does,” continued Mr. Gingras, referring to the major break in a water main that flooded the streets near the Jacques-Cartier Bridge last Friday. “In education, it’s the same thing.”
Thousands of positions to fill
According to an internal survey conducted by the Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ), as of August 16, 1,380 school educator positions remained to be filled among the members of the federation, which represents 40% of school support staff in the province. Extrapolating to the entire province, this number is estimated at 3,450 by the federation. The latter also notes that several of the positions to be filled are full-time.
“That means people have deserted [cette profession]unfortunately,” sighed the president of the FPSS-CSQ, Éric Pronovost. However, a significant portion of the “classroom assistants” called in to support teachers in Quebec schools are school educators, he stressed.
The compilation of the FPSS-CSQ, the details of which were provided to the Dutyalso reports 475 positions for specialized education technicians to be filled among members of the federation, for an estimated 1,188 employees missing in this category across the province.
“That’s a huge number of people and Minister Drainville ignored them in his press conference. [de vendredi dernier] “, lamented Mr. Pronovost.
The Federation of Education Professionals of Quebec estimates that there are between 1,500 and 2,000 positions to be filled among its members.
Education Minister Bernard Drainville declined the interview request from DutyMonday.
– With Marie-Michèle Sioui