Teachers are currently intensifying pressure tactics in order to obtain better working conditions from the Quebec state which, we hope, will increase the attractiveness of the profession and improve the time devoted to teaching and learning. contents.
This text focuses more particularly on the fate of special education students, who are the most weakened by the devaluation of the teaching profession. In certain school service centers, more than 80% of special education tasks are now the responsibility of unqualified teaching staff, and this is not because of the hasty departures of our graduates. On the contrary, called upon to fill vacant positions in ordinary classes, they must abandon teaching the most deprived students.
The Minister of Education is currently asking us to develop accelerated training of 30 credits intended for unqualified personnel by modeling the secondary school teaching training model, the structure of which is based on a disciplinary baccalaureate. This is, for example, the case when a linguist trains in teaching French in secondary schools. This model in no way corresponds to the training profile in special education since the remedial teacher intervenes both in French and in mathematics and the teacher of a special class, on several disciplinary contents, both with students in academic difficulty.
Remedial teachers and special class teachers must also implement specific skills to, among other things, react appropriately to the inappropriate behavior of certain students. If the helping relationship is an important dimension of their profession, for which they are also trained, it must not obscure their primary mission: teaching subject content to students who are often in difficulty at the same time. and in academic difficulties. This is a real expertise calling on a body of didactic and disciplinary knowledge. They must use teaching and intervention methods guided by theoretical models derived from research.
This is where the theory is truly “practical”, with students who do not produce the knowledge expected under ordinary teaching conditions. Who knows, for example, that among young students, at least five different strategies are observed for finding the sum of 6 + 5 and that some of them call for intervention in order to prevent difficulties?
And that’s not all. To teach these students, it is also necessary to draw on knowledge on the functioning of a class group, on the development and emotional needs of students, on collaboration with other specialists and parents, etc.
“Lesser evil”
Our mission is therefore to train competent teachers who will allow all students to access knowledge and develop an appetite for various fields so that the effect of schooling extends beyond the walls of the school. We can therefore understand the tension that exists between the minister’s injunction to “act quickly” and the requirements of real university training.
We recognize the urgency of implementing training for unqualified personnel. However, people should be informed that training of 30 credits, rather than 120, can only be minimal. It will be imperative to name the limits and the means planned to complete it. We are concerned about the false sense of security that a solution that is a “lesser evil” can provide, because these brief training courses are stripped-down training courses. The counting is already rife in our public network, in the infrastructure, the working conditions, the resources made available to teachers, the hiring of professionals and, therefore, the support offered to students. We do not want to add to this count.
Our hope for a Quebec school worthy of its mission is nourished daily by the work we carry out with our baccalaureate students in teaching in academic and social adaptation, future remedial teachers and special class teachers. Many, passionate about the issues in this field, complete a master’s degree in orthopedagogy or a master’s degree in arts (45 credits), even though they have their certificate and have a full-time job in schools. Recently, our master’s graduates in orthopedagogy have asked us for training for highly qualified teachers and orthopedagogues. Their desire to know, to question and to improve their practices commands our admiration and reminds us that the more we know, the more we want to know.
We invite Minister Drainville and his team to design solutions that match the passion for knowledge that drives these students and which, under normal operating conditions, can then spill over to those they are responsible for educating.
* Also signed this letter: Gustavo Barallobres, mathematics teacher, Laurie Bergeron, mathematics teacher, Nathalie Chapleau, French teacher, Marie-Hélène Giguère, French teacher, Virginie Houle, mathematics teacher, Chantal Ouellet, French teacher , Nathalie Prévost, French didactician and director of the bachelor’s degree in teaching in academic and social adaptation, Anik Ste-Marie, mathematics didactician and director of the master’s degree in orthopedagogy