The strike continues and we are rightly concerned about the effects it will have on the students, on the weakest among them of course, but also and especially on all those who have special needs due to developmental disorders. behavior or learning.
The composition of the classes, which their presence sometimes modifies substantially, is, it seems, one of the major issues in this negotiation.
I look forward to being able to carefully examine what has been agreed on this subject, hoping that we will not have neglected it and that we will have treated the difficult subject as it should be. And I would like to be instructed on delicate questions to do this.
A huge challenge
The subject is indeed vast and complex, in fact of a scale and complexity rarely achieved in education. To give an idea of this, let us remember that medicine, psychology, a philosophical ideal of equality of opportunity, law and pedagogy are called upon here. They are asked to recommend a practice.
About thirty years ago, in Quebec we made the choice to integrate these students into “regular” classes. I remember that the word circulating then, imported from the United States, was mainstreaming.
The decision is defended. But the least we can say is that things did not go as we hoped. Believe me: teachers don’t complain for nothing.
Let’s give some figures.
In secondary school, in 2011-2012, there were 25.8% of students with intervention plans; they are 32.8% in 2022-2023. There were 103,000 struggling students in 2000; there would be 258,000 today. The number of students with a speech disorder
Attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) is constantly increasing. What is decreasing, however, are the resources allocated to teachers to work with these students. More than 400 positions for psychologists, remedial teachers and psychoeducators are to be filled right now in public schools! It goes without saying that our three-tier school further accentuates, and seriously, the dramatic effects of these combined factors.
Have we correctly followed the unfolding of this tragedy? Can we identify its main causes? For this reason, has results-based management been seriously practiced? I’m not sure. Have we always recommended implementing the best practices to integrate these children? I ask to see. And besides, is it true, as I sometimes read, that there is a severe lack of credible research on this issue? I would like to know. What are the ethical and philosophical justifications provided to implement what we have put in place? To stick with something that is dear to me, what would a capabilities approach have brought?
Have we considered it? On this too, I would like some clarification. Without forgetting the place and the importance that these quarrels so frequent in education may have had, and the role that they may have played.
For the moment, I note that while credible research indicates that parental engagement plays a role in the success of these students, it also emphasizes the crucial importance of the help provided to teachers by assistants such as, precisely, psychologists, remedial teachers and psychoeducators.
But one thing is certain: we need credible and impartial insight into all of this.
What INEE could do
We know: Bill 23, sponsored by Minister Bernard Drainville, has just been adopted. It means, among other things, the creation of the National Institute of Excellence in Education (INEE).
This strike over, he could tell us what the best available evidence suggests we should do for the inevitable catch-up that will have to be made.
But on this question of student integration, I would like… No: we desperately need impartial insights, informed by the best evidence and taking into account all the normative positions that play a role here.
I would like to read, taking all this into account, a rich history of our decisions and their implementation. How did we get here ? I would like us to examine other possible options to help students in difficulty. Please enlighten me on the best practices, on the means to implement them and how we should go about rigorously following what is recommended.
And I would like us to disseminate all of this throughout the school network.
Imagine that we had agreed at the negotiating table to entrust INEE with such a project.
Doctor of philosophy, doctor of education and columnist, Normand Baillargeon has written, directed or translated and edited more than seventy works.