The process of setting up the new Culture and Quebec Citizenship course causes “unease” among the experts and teachers mandated to create the program, who feel “instrumentalised” for political ends by the Legault government.
Depending on what The duty has learned, two of the five members of the program’s editorial board have resigned in recent weeks. Experts from another committee, responsible for “validating” the content, are considering resigning in turn in the face of the turn deemed “partisan” of the implementation of the course.
The official from the Ministry of Education who was responsible for the program, Marie-Noëlle Corriveau-Tendland, resigned last May. She believes that the public service “is no longer an administrative bulwark against political intervention”.
“I felt that to satisfy a minister, we had to change the content of a study program. It hit me in my values. When I went to the ministry, I was going to work for the State and not for the government, ”says Marie-Noëlle Corriveau-Tendland to To have to.
She considers “normal” for a minister to seek to influence the process leading to the review of a program. After all, he was elected to rule. The administrative machine must, however, ensure that it respects the procedures in order to “depoliticize pedagogy”.
“Experts find it strange that there are announcements made even before the end of the normal validations of the program,” said the former civil servant, who became a pedagogical advisor in a CEGEP.
The new program will replace the Ethics and Religious Culture (ECR) course, created in 2008 in the wake of the deconfessionalization of schools. The redesigned course reduces the place of religions and gives more importance to citizenship, culture and secularism, a central theme of government action since the coming to power of the Coalition d’avenir Québec (CAQ), in 2018.
A political commitment
The announcement of this new program on Sunday looked like a pre-election event. Three personalities (Dany Turcotte, Pierre Curzi and Ingrid Falaise) came to praise the virtues of the improved course. In a video broadcast during the press conference, eight ministers and the Prime Minister scroll on the screen to explain that this program will contribute to a “proud Quebec”.
“We feel in the middle of an electoral campaign”, deplores a source well informed of the negotiations surrounding the birth of the course. This person asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.
“We are talking here of a simple course offered at the elementary and secondary levels, but the government describes us almost as the saviors of Quebec society,” launches another source who is not authorized to speak publicly.
The Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, denies playing politics on the backs of the students. “The overhaul of the RCT course was a commitment of our government. It was normal to make the announcement. At no time is there any question of politicizing the teaching of pupils ”, indicates Jean-François Del Torchio, press secretary of the minister.
“The themes that will be addressed during this program are in no way political, but themes that reflect the daily reality of students, such as democratic institutions, the judicial system, the environment, sexuality education, culture, etc. He adds.
“Since Sunday, several teachers have contacted us to participate in the development of the course. They want to contribute, ”specifies the Minister’s representative.
Heading for the elections
Vast consultations with the education community did indeed take place from January 2020, but Minister Roberge has so far dismissed opinions contrary to his project, indicates Marie-Noëlle Corriveau-Tendland.
In private, experts and teachers say they too see that the Legault government seeks to put forward its political vision of the Quebec nation. This view is not necessarily bad, according to our sources. Some people are in favor, but the school network must rise above the fray to produce an educational program free of partisanship, it is stressed.
Another member of the editorial board for the new course, a high school teacher, recently resigned. This leaves only three of the five original members of the group responsible for creating the new version of the program.
According to our information, members of the validation committee – the stage following the drafting – are in turn wondering about the rest of their engagement. This group of about fifteen experts met only once, last June. He only had access to a four-page summary of the draft program.
The identity of the members of this group is kept secret. All had to sign a confidentiality agreement. The next committee meeting is scheduled for Friday. The Culture and Quebec citizenship course still needs to be fine-tuned before it comes into force at the start of the 2023 school year, explained Minister Roberge. Pilot projects are due to take place at the start of the 2022 school year.
Mélanie Dubois, lecturer in teacher training at the University of Quebec in Montreal, has the impression that the government wants to speed up the implementation of the new program before the elections scheduled for a year from now, in October 2022. She also finds “Disappointing” that no teacher was invited to the announcement of the program by the minister on Sunday.