Primary school music teacher Sébastien Potvin transforms at night. He puts on his costume drag queen and becomes Barbada, cabaret star and rising television star.
This extraordinary teacher has become a well-known personality in the entertainment world. Barbada is one of the headliners of the series call me mother on OUTtv, the only LGBTQ channel in Canada. The drag queen has also started filming a TV show for children, which will be broadcast in the spring on Tou.tv. Pedagogue at heart, whether she has her teacher’s habit or her drag, Barbada will introduce children to music in this ten-part series. She also reads children’s stories in public libraries.
“I don’t regret any of my choices. I say to the children:Follow your dreams”. There are similarities between my two professions: teacher or drag queen, we enter the scene, ”says Sébastien Potvin, met in a café in the Village, in Montreal, in December, just before the reconfinement due to the Omicron variant.
This 37-year-old teacher embodies a new generation of flamboyant teachers, with sometimes strong opinions, who come out of the mold. These young people are shaking up the austere image that sticks to the profession by leading careers outside their school as musicians, singers, comedians, influencers on social networks or even Olympic athletes.
These teachers push the limits of teachers’ “duty of reserve” and “loyalty”, which is interpreted in different ways from one environment to another. A high school teacher in Châteauguay, a hip-hop singer outside of school hours, was suspended last fall — then reinstated — after appearing shirtless in the video for one of his songs.
The misadventure of this 34-year-old teacher, Chad Ashe, has provoked a debate in society. The school system prohibits teachers from wearing the veil, but does not like those who reveal themselves too much either. Result: some teachers walk on eggshells.
“We have to stop thinking that teachers are just teachers,” says Sébastien Potvin. We have the right to have a life outside of work. Our profession has long been perceived as a vocation, but this is no longer the case. It’s a job like any other. »
give a performance
Sébastien Potvin began his two professions (teacher and artist) in parallel when he obtained his bachelor’s degree in music education at the University of Quebec in Montreal in 2005. He planned to devote himself to the full-time education, but life has decided otherwise: the contracts of drag queen have multiplied. The teacher resigned himself to occupying a part-time position in the schools, to reconcile his two passions.
In 16 years of teaching on the South Shore, Sébastien Potvin has always had the support of his colleagues and school principals. And his students adore him, even if they are mostly unaware of his double life as a teacher and an artist. “If they have heard of Barbada and ask me about it, I tell them the truth. »
However, from the beginning he revealed to his superiors his work as drag queen. Only once, early in her career, did a school principal ask her to remove a video that might have been misinterpreted out of context. “The problem is that people don’t know what a show is. drag queen. It’s not a play, it’s not humor, it’s not dancing, it’s not singing: it’s all that! explains Barbada.
It’s a “performance”, in a way. A representation. Like a lesson… Barbada is convinced that her stage experience makes her a better teacher. Her eyes literally sparkle when she talks about her two intertwining passions.
“Art with a capital A is the pretext to talk about many things. Through drawing, through music, theatre, dance, cinema, we talk about life. We’re talking about love. We are talking about society. I really get the children’s attention when we discuss these topics in class. »
These days, Barbada takes center stage in Sébastien Potvin’s life. He had to take a break from teaching because his school service center refused to grant him unpaid leave to film his shows. He says he can’t wait to get back to school.
An “activist” teacher
Jonathan St-Pierre, a secondary school teacher in Rouyn-Noranda, also breaks out of the mold of the traditional teacher. With his tattoos, his piercings and his long beard, he looks more like a heavy metal singer than a teacher. He was indeed playing in a “metal” group at the start of his teaching career. Not anymore. But he remains an extraordinary character in the hushed environment of education.
“We are no longer in Caleb’s daughters ! Teachers have the right to have a life, ”says the 38-year-old teacher on the phone. “We can no longer have just one teacher model. We won’t have a choice, with the staff shortage: there are a lot of young people who won’t come to teaching if things don’t change,” says Jonathan St-Pierre.
The self-described “educational activist” has become a personality on social networks thanks to his blog Jonathan le Prof, launched four years ago. He didn’t ask anyone’s permission before starting his blog, but he waited for his tenure anyway.
Jonathan the Prof doesn’t have his tongue in his pocket. On the strength of his notoriety, he does not hesitate to test the limits of the famous “duty of loyalty”, which generally encourages his colleagues to avoid any public speaking. “We are not just teachers,” he wrote to the 41,552 followers of his Facebook page after the suspension of teacher Chad Ashe, from Châteauguay, who had the misfortune to appear in a bathing suit in a video this fall. “A teacher who does hip-hop should be valued,” says Jonathan St-Pierre. For a 12, 13, 14 year old, it’s inspiring to see a teacher succeed as an artist. »
Jonathan the Prof doesn’t just do brilliant things: social networks serve as a pretext for him to talk about serious subjects such as North Korea, Kazakhstan, the pandemic, American politics…
Manage small tanners
Comedian, singer and impersonator Steve Diamond says the stage experience is helping him in his new job as a teacher. He had started a bachelor’s degree in teaching English at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières before his artistic career took off. When all of his shows were canceled in March 2020 due to the pandemic, he decided to try his hand at teaching. Since then, he has been an English teacher in three elementary schools in the suburbs of Montreal.
“I fell in love with the job. I usually deal with tanners when I perform in bars. It gave me confidence to handle the little tanners in class,” he laughs.
Steve Diamond is filled with admiration for his colleagues. “It’s a difficult job. I say to the incumbents: “I don’t want it, your job !” says the comedian known for his impersonations of Pavarotti, Ginette Reno, Gerry Boulet and many others.
He is one of the 30,000 “non-legally qualified” teachers called in to reinforce the school network due to the shortage of teachers. Steeve Diamond continues to teach, although stage life quietly resumed before the spike in COVID-19 cases last month. He is set to continue as a teacher for the foreseeable future.
Classes and races
The pandemic has also upset the plans of Farah Jacques. This high school math teacher is also an elite athlete. She finished seventh in the 4×100-meter relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Due to a lack of training trails — which were closed in the Ottawa-Gatineau region due to COVID — she narrowly missed out on qualifying in view of the Tokyo Games, held last summer.
The last two years have been difficult for the 31-year-old athlete, who is thinking about his future. She plans to devote herself entirely to teaching, which she practiced part-time at the same time as her Olympic career.
One thing is certain, Farah Jacques does not regret the sacrifices of the last decade. To train and compete, she completed her bachelor’s degree in education in six years rather than four years. She progressed in her athletic career while teaching at Grande-Rivière high school in Gatineau.
“Athletics helps me teach. I’m used to pressure. There isn’t much that bothers me. I am ready for anything,” she said in an interview.
Farah Jacques is convinced that her status as an athlete helps her earn the respect of her Secondary II students. At the start of the year, she tells them about her Olympic experience. She shows them videos of her competitions. She answers their questions. She feels the interest of her students.
In her own way, Farah Jacques also clashes with the image of Émilie Bordeleau in her one-room school Daughters of Caleb. That doesn’t stop him from loving his job. Yes, “there is life outside the classroom”, but teachers’ hearts are never far from school.