The majority of primary and secondary school teachers received their assignments for the start of the school year on Thursday, three weeks earlier than in previous years. A change that aims to provide “peace of mind for parents, children and staff,” said Education Minister Bernard Drainville in a statement posted on his social media. A change that is far from being a solution to the shortage of workers in the education sector.
This change came with the new collective agreements negotiated at the end of 2023. Before these, several schools completed the assignment process shortly before the start of the school year. Minister Drainville promises that “the vast majority of positions will be filled three weeks before the start of the school year.”
“Although some precarious teachers know earlier where they will work, which leaves a little more time to prepare, the assignment on August 8 does not change much for teachers,” states the Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE-CSQ) in a written statement sent to the Duty.
“It gives you more time to prepare, but at the same time, it means you start thinking about work as early as August 8,” says drama teacher Marie-Claude Côté. For her, this is good news for young teachers who are not yet permanent or who do not yet have a full-time position, but it will not solve the shortage of teachers affecting the education system.
Bernard Drainville admits in his statement that assignments that occur earlier in the school calendar are not a miracle solution to the labor shortage.
Benoît Giguère, vice-president of labor relations for the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE), explains that even if the change is seen positively by teachers, it “does not generate new teachers. These are the teachers we already have and there are not enough of them.”
“They’re going to be short of people, we’re just going to know it faster,” summarizes Marie-Claude Côté. For the teacher, the change will still be able to avoid the case of classes that find themselves without a teacher at the start of the school year when the people assigned to these classes can’t teach — during sick leave or maternity leave, for example. “They’ll be able to report it to their service center three weeks before the start of the school year instead of three days before.”
In order to avoid this “domino effect”, Minister Drainville plans to limit job changes after the August 8 deadline.
According to Benoît Giguère, it is possible that the number of vacant positions posted before the start of the school year will be lower than last year — when in August, there was a shortage of nearly 2,000 full-time teachers — due to the earlier assignment. The problem remains the same, however, “there will be a shortage of teachers,” he says. “That’s the situation we’re in. Is it catastrophic? We couldn’t say that it is, but it leads to difficulties in planning, and in terms of school operations and organization.”
For the FAE’s vice-president of labor relations, it is possible that earlier assignments create better classroom climates, which “may help keep people staying and attract new people who want to choose and take on the challenge of teaching.”
Bernard Drainville indicated that he will speak “in the coming days” on the situation.