I am a teacher by training and I have a hard time with my profession.
I have trouble with my professional identity.
I have trouble with my identity.
I am in pain.
I hurt my teacher father, my teacher aunts, our teacher grandparents.
I hurt my teacher spouse, my teacher friends, my teacher colleagues.
I hurt my professional family.
Since last Thursday, the Minister of Education, in two stages, three movements, undermined my 30 years of commitment to teaching.
In education in general; in the teaching of French in particular.
I resent that my hard-earned expertise is considered useless for embracing my profession.
I find it hard to insinuate that devoting one’s life and studies to education is only worth, after all, a short year of an accelerated certificate.
Despite more than 20 years spent on the benches of Quebec universities as a student for a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, a master’s degree in linguistics and language didactics, a graduate diploma specializing in reading and writing difficulties and in the doctorate in didactics of French, I still have the impression of learning every day in this demanding and confronting field that is education.
I have trouble with my profession.
I resent any profession that disregards advances in research in its field.
All the energy and passion that I devote to my teaching profession, always the same profession since 1995 despite my changing hats (French teacher in secondary school, primary school teacher, lecturer, research assistant, consultant to the ministry of Education, professor, researcher, vice-dean for training and culture), are not vocationsbut the result of trainingboth initial, practical and continuous of high quality.
Without these formations that constitute me, I could never have become the teacher that I have been and that I still am.
I feel bad about my profession, and I accuse, Minister, successive governments of not making education a real priority.
I accuse these governments of not doing everything they can to ensure that teachers can take full care of each of the students entrusted to their care.
I accuse these governments of leaving alone and without support the teachers who experience attacks and violence on a regular basis.
I accuse these governments of not allowing them to carry out real interprofessional teamwork to jointly meet the challenges raised by the education of children and adolescents.
I accuse these governments of not giving them quality time to do their work at times that will not be stolen from their families and their leisure time.
I accuse these governments of creating heterogeneous classes that are not a true reflection of society, with a balanced distribution of children and adolescents whose strengths and challenges are varied and complementary.
I accuse these governments of not encouraging the continuing professional development of teachers.
I accuse these governments of not providing teachers with all the necessary equipment and furniture, as well as a healthy and stimulating environment to carry out their daily work.
I accuse these governments of not providing access to all the resources and tools at their fingertips to develop all students in their classroom to their potential.
I accuse these governments of shoveling social issues that fall within the family or the community into the backyard of teachers.
I accuse these governments of devaluing the teaching profession by suggesting that everyone can do the job given their past experience as students.
I accuse these governments of not deploying the solutions that are known and resulting from numerous reports commissioned by their own ministries.
Finally, I accuse the 30 Ministers of Education and you, Mr. Minister, of not living up to the dreams and ambitions of the Honorable Paul Gérin-Lajoie. By not defending education and its main architects, the teachers, you are neglecting all the children and adolescents of Quebec.
I take my hat off to all my teaching sisters and all my teaching brothers who, at the risk of their physical and psychological health, stay on course for the mission of Quebec schools despite the storms.
* Martin Lépine is professor, French didactics, vice-dean for training and culture, faculty of education, Université de Sherbrooke