Between a busy end of semester, the stress of course summary tests, paid work and what remains for personal life, young students in the Human Sciences program enrolled in the Education profile at Cégep Limoilou have chosen to invest the place of high knowledge. It was within the framework of the Parlons éducation citizen forums on April 14 and 15 at Université Laval that these young adults listened, discussed and courageously joined their voices to those of teachers at all levels, researchers and citizens in order to grasp the current reality of our education system to “dream it better”.
Heads full of questions, doubts, certainties, benevolence and ambition, here is their voice, at the dawn of their university course which will lead them to work with our children and grandchildren, broken down into seven priorities.
1. About the mission. Transform education from a productivist aim to an emancipatory aim where learning is meaningful for students and where it transmits the values of living together and respect, and not competition and individualism. To do this, we must in particular review our evaluation system by thinking about the place of encrypted reports from primary school. We must also include courses or workshops in philosophy for children, empathy and self-knowledge from preschool and throughout the school career.
2. About financing. Learn from Ontario about private schools. The Government of Quebec would thus grant fewer subsidies, or even cease them, with the objective of reducing the elitism caused by the selection of students by private schools. Encourage private schools to convert to public schools during this transition to lessen the pressure on the public system that will arise with the end of subsidies.
3. About the needs of young people. Listen to the needs of young people regarding school specifications (particularly in terms of specialties other than chemistry, physics, biology, etc.), and ensure that stimulating and motivating special programs in public schools are free, with a view to accessibility for all young people in Quebec, without discrimination and stigma related to the economic status of their parents.
4. About integration. Include parents and the community in reception and francization classes for students from immigrant backgrounds. For example, providing arrangements for parents to spend afternoons in their child’s classroom so they can see what they are doing during the day. All with the aim of bringing these newly arrived parents to have a better vision of the school and to be more integrated into their community. Students could do more activities with regular classes, such as mentoring.
5. About Acknowledgment and Terms. Valuing teachers by offering them better working conditions, such as recognizing them as real pedagogues, that is to say as specialists in children and their subject. Promote the profession by offering classes with fewer students and ensuring that teachers have the necessary support, i.e. a remedial teacher, a special education technician, etc., so that everyone can receive the help needed. At the beginning of their career, teachers should not have access to the most difficult classes, to prevent new graduates from dropping out of the profession. If they have more experience, they will be better able to handle more difficult classes.
6. About training. Reform the university program in order to combine the baccalaureate in special education with that in preschool and elementary education since there are more and more students with difficulties in the classes, especially in the so-called “regular” ones. The special education baccalaureate should be given in all universities to encourage future teachers to enroll.
7. About research. That teacher training be in tune with the realities that new teachers experience in the field (theoretical courses closer to school adaptation) and that teachers have free time to follow continuing education and be aware of the data scientists on the best interventions with students.
These young people, as part of school work, go to schools to make observations and interviews with professionals in the field, most often primary and secondary school teachers. In recent years, the testimonies of several teachers could demotivate more than one to pursue the dream of being the one who will give the taste of learning to children!
In the experiences shared, there is something like sadness, suffering, even discouragement! Verbal and physical violence, the loss of a feeling of competence in the face of the too many needs of young people encountering difficulties, which become like a slap in the face to the ideals of the beginning of a career! Parents present, fortunately, but sometimes too suspicious of the professional skills of the teacher. Challenges of concentration, anxiety, omnipresence of cell phones and the harmful effects of social networks, etc.
However, these teachers love their young people! Like to teach, like everything that affects the relationship with the other, this other, young and less young, who only asks to be fed, to be propelled and encouraged in their overall development.
These young people to whom we teach and who will be the teachers of tomorrow want to be recognized, welcomed and reassured. They are very concerned about the working conditions of all players in the community and the injustices of our current education system, which deprive Quebec of young talent, and this, in all the beautiful and great diversity of talent! Will we be worthy of their concerns? For the present and the future, this must be THE priority of all Quebecers!