More than 320 full-time and part-time teaching positions are to be filled in schools in Montreal, Laval and Longueuil, we have learned The duty, in this first week back in class. A situation which causes many headaches for parents and which could complicate the implementation of the academic catch-up plan deployed by Quebec, according to various players in the field.
Tuesday, Minister Bernard Drainville announced the deployment of a catch-up plan in which Quebec invested $300 million in order to offer school service centers the means to help their primary and secondary students complete their year school by receiving all the knowledge they need despite the many school days they missed due to a strike in the education sector in the fall of 2023.
In this sense, Quebec will notably allow teachers who volunteer to offer tutoring outside of class hours and during spring break, a service which will be paid for overtime. However, they still need to be present in sufficient numbers to implement this catch-up plan, raise several stakeholders in the education sector.
Joined by The duty, the CSSDM confirmed Wednesday that it currently has 196 unfilled teaching positions, including 10 regular positions, the others being part-time or as replacements. On Monday, the day before returning to class, that number stood at 243 unfilled positions. “The classes remain functional,” nevertheless assures communications manager Alain Perron, who notes that the strike in the education sector has “slowed down recruitment in recent weeks.”
“The Montreal School Service Center has to examine its conscience regarding its management of human resources,” says the president of the Alliance of Montreal Teachers, Catherine Beauvais-St-Pierre. Otherwise, the growing shortage of teachers within the largest CSS in the province risks further accentuating the weight weighing on the shoulders of those who remain, she warns. “It’s a vicious circle since the more we lack staff in the service center, the more we have non-legally qualified staff, which means that the teachers who remain in place must fill the gaps and burn out. “, she notes.
CSS Marguerite-Bourgeoys, for its part, reports 50 teaching positions that are to be filled on its territory, compared to 45 full-time in Laval and 31 at CSS Marie-Victorin, on the South Shore of Montreal. The three service centers, however, ensure that the use of substitutes currently ensures that no group of students finds itself without an employee to supervise them.
“We currently have a teacher in each of our classes,” indicates the CSS de la Pointe-de-l’île.
Concerns
Several parents have also deplored on social networks having been informed this week that their child’s teacher, in primary or secondary school, had resigned. A mother learned on Tuesday, by email, of the resignation of two teachers of her child, who is studying in the first year of secondary school at the Jeanne-Mance school, affiliated with the CSSDM. Two other teachers of this student had already resigned and were replaced last October and September, a situation that concerns the mother, who requested anonymity to avoid identifying her son. In an interview, she says that her son has been seeing successive replacements for months, which complicates his learning process.
“My son doesn’t seem very motivated,” sighs the Montrealer. It’s worrying. »
By email, the CSSDM confirms that the Jeanne-Mance school reports three resignations that occurred in recent months in the same class at the Plateau-Mont-Royal establishment. In order to support the students in this group, the school service center claims to have mobilized two specialized education technicians and to have undertaken to split the teaching position in two to serve these students, “with the aim that one and the same teacher is not responsible for teaching four subjects to the same group.” “With the catch-up measures announced yesterday by the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, students in this group will benefit from special support, including tutoring,” continues Alain Perron, of the CSSDM.
Meanwhile, some teachers are seriously considering leaving their profession, following a strike which was an opportunity for many to question themselves. This is the case of Geneviève Groleau. The elementary school teacher intends to leave her position due to the lack of support she receives as a teacher to help her manage a class where several children have special needs. “Opening specialized classes and not putting qualified people with children with special needs is very detrimental for the students. […] This is what I cannot accept,” notes the teacher, who says she is “exhausted”. “My resources have been exhausted,” sighs Ms. Groleau, who will soon leave the teaching profession. “It is certain that I will not finish the school year,” continues the teacher, who has already informed her employer.
“I know teachers who are on alert, who are ready to leave and who are waiting for an offer to do so,” notes Mathieu Bernière. The teacher from the Quebec region says he fears that several teachers will change jobs if they do not consider the agreements concluded by their unions with the government sufficient, the details of which they will learn in the coming weeks.
A situation that concerns the president of the Montreal Association of School Directors (AMDES), Kathleen Legault, who wonders how schools will be able to implement Minister Drainville’s academic catch-up plan if teachers are not there. in sufficient numbers.
“It is becoming difficult to guarantee the quality of educational services,” confides Ms. Legault, who also notes that the lack of teachers means that those who remain on the job are called upon more to do surveillance and substitute work. , lightening their workload. “It’s not going to help keep people,” continues the president of AMDES, who fears a ripple effect in teacher resignations.