A former teacher is “surprised and overwhelmed” to see that her workshop for teachers looking to change careers is attracting the interest of hundreds of people, a sign that many of them are considering leaving teaching or find temporary employment in a context of negotiations that stretch over time.
“It takes me a little by surprise,” says Maude Trépanier, who taught for nearly 25 years. The Montreal-area woman created a Facebook event to invite people to participate in a live discussion titled “Building a Future Beyond Education.” 365 people wanted to participate at the time these lines were written, and nearly 2000 had checked the “interested” option.
“I see lots of people around me, who are ex-colleagues or teaching friends, who are [à la tête de familles] single parents or two teachers as a couple, and who have lost thousands of dollars in income and who are in the process of putting together their CV, or who have sent it, she explains. It’s been almost two years since I started my business and I’ve learned things since I thought about leaving, and I told myself that I would share my experience with them. »
His workshop is aimed at those who are temporarily looking for work during the strike, or who wish to leave teaching altogether. But she didn’t expect hundreds of teachers to express interest on the social network. “I thought it would only be my friends,” she says, laughing.
“The message I want to convey is that I do not necessarily want everyone to leave teaching, it is not an action in that sense because society needs teachers and people dedicated, she takes care to specify. But at the same time, individually, what I mean is that we don’t have to carry that weight. »
She left teaching after a work stoppage and after experiencing “a terrible breakdown in meaning”. The working conditions of teachers and the learning conditions of students continue to deteriorate, she notes. “Teachers have a duty of reserve and they see terrible things, children who do not have the services they should have, and we do not have the right to say that,” she analyzes.
“With the conflict that there is currently, and the contempt of the government, it is taking on clear proportions,” she notes.