Recently, Minister Drainville has multiplied initiatives aimed at facilitating access to the profession, training unqualified teachers as quickly as possible and retaining teachers in post, in a context of generalized teacher shortages. However, several of its initiatives have the effect of lowering the criteria for access to the profession and shortening the training of teachers. In addition to having very significant negative impacts on the promotion of the profession, recognized as being one of the best levers for improving the attraction and retention of teachers, this type of measure thwarts the professionalization efforts of the teaching in progress since the XXe century.
The professionalization of teachers
In the 1960s, there was a complete transfer of teacher training to universities. Two paths then lead to the profession: a three-year bachelor’s degree or, for holders of a major in a secondary education discipline, a 30-credit undergraduate pedagogy certificate giving access to secondary education. Both training paths were followed by a probationary period of two years.
According to Maurice Tardif, sociologist of the teaching profession, this reform aimed to make the teacher a competent professional and specialized in a field and a subject. She opposed the conception of teaching as a vocation or as learning on the job.
The Chagnon reform, adopted in 1994, abolished the teaching certificate and established the four-year bachelor’s degree as the only path leading to the teaching certificate. Being perceived as a failure, the probationary period is eliminated. At the same time, the Committee for Approval of Teacher Training Programs (CAPFE) was created, an autonomous and independent structure responsible for approving and evaluating teacher training programs.
Diversification of pathways to the profession
In 2008, teacher shortages were observed in certain subjects, particularly at secondary level. A first qualifying master’s degree in secondary education of 60 credits is created, on the recommendation of CAPFE, despite certain reservations. Aimed at holders of a disciplinary baccalaureate in a discipline taught in secondary school, it gives access to the teaching certificate. In the same vein, in 2019, then in 2021, Minister Roberge took the decision to override the negative opinion of CAPFE and to authorize the creation of two qualifying master’s degrees in preschool education and primary education, which does not had never been seen before.
The qualifying master’s model is similar to what is found in other provinces and other countries; it is part of a professionalizing aim whose content ensures a certain balance between pedagogy, didactics, the foundations of education and practical training. These qualifying master’s degrees have enabled the number of trained teachers to be increased and access to the teaching profession to candidates with more varied profiles.
However, the new qualifying master’s degrees for preschool and primary education open the door, for the first time, to candidates holding an undergraduate degree, regardless of the field of training (for example, in dance or in administrative sciences). Without the requirement of a diploma in a discipline taught at school or of a preparatory course, disciplinary training is significantly reduced, especially since the qualifying master’s degree includes fewer didactic courses than the baccalaureate. of four years.
For many, the circumvention of the CAPFE opinion and this reduction in disciplinary training mean a setback in relation to the efforts of the past 60 years to better regulate teacher training and to better respond to the growing challenges of teaching.
The break: a turning point towards deprofessionalization
In 2023, at the request of Minister Drainville, a new, shorter qualifying course, once again aimed at holders of an undergraduate degree, regardless of the field, was created. This DESS in preschool and primary education includes 30 second cycle credits. It includes two on-the-job internships and three didactics courses. The program should, if the minister commits to the planned regulatory changes, lead to a teaching certificate, probably after a probationary period.
The training is thus emptied of a large part of its essential content, particularly in preschool education, child development, didactics of science, the arts and the social universe, in addition to losing its internship on longer. No rigorous evaluation or scientific research has demonstrated the effectiveness of the short formula or the ineffectiveness of the qualifying master’s degree in the Quebec context. Consequently, the need to which the DESS program attempts to respond does not appear obvious. It targets the same audience as the qualifying master’s, based on the same admission criteria. At the same time, Bill 23 abolishes the CAPFE.
The new National Institute for Excellence in Education which will replace it will have the reduced mission of formulating, at the minister’s request, an opinion on teacher training programs. In short, we find ourselves at a crossroads in the history of the teaching profession, namely the passage from a trend based on professionalization to that of deprofessionalization.
Several countries are tending to professionalize teaching, in particular by raising the requirements and the quality of training (for example, Finland, Taiwan or Singapore). Research has shown that countries with higher levels of professionalization more effectively attract and retain quality candidates in the profession. On the contrary, deprofessionalization is characterized by a trend towards a reduction in the duration of training and a deregularization of the profession, as has been observed in several American states.
By changing the way teachers are trained, we are embarking on a more than uncertain path of deprofessionalization which risks having lasting impacts on the image of the profession and the ability to attract and retain good candidates. This is a further step towards devaluing the profession, which risks negatively affecting the motivation and professional identity of teachers and, ultimately, the quality of teaching.
There is an urgent need to find solutions to the shortage of teachers. However, it is imperative to distinguish between temporary solutions and promising solutions that contribute to countering the shortage in the long term, by improving the attractiveness of the profession and by preparing the quality succession that Quebec schools need.
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Marc-André Éthier, professor, University of Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
Martial Dembélé, professor, University of Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
Joséphine Mukamurera, professor, University of Sherbrooke, regular CRIFPE researcher
Anderson Araújo-Oliveira, professor, University of Quebec in Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
Sawsen Lakhal, professor, Université de Sherbrooke, regular CRIFPE researcher
Marie-Odile Magnan, professor, University of Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
Simon Collin, University of Quebec in Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
Jean-François Desbiens, Vice-Dean for Training, Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Sherbrooke, regular CRIFPE researcher
Christophe Point, assistant professor, University of Sherbrooke, regular CRIFPE researcher
Érick Falardeau, full professor, Université Laval, regular CRIFPE researcher
Maria-Lourdes Lira-Gonzales, professor, University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, regular CRIFPE researcher
Normand Roy, University of Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
David Lefrançois, professor, University of Quebec in Outaouais, regular CRIFPE researcher
Mélissa Bissonnette, professor, University of Quebec in Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
Marie-Andrée Lord, professor, Laval University, regular CRIFPE researcher
Bernard Wentzel, full professor, Université Laval, regular CRIFPE researcher
Brigitte Voyer, full professor, University of Quebec in Montreal, regular researcher at CRIFPE
Patrick Giroux, full professor, University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, regular CRIFPE researcher
Florent Biao, professor, University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, regular CRIFPE researcher
Denis Simard, full professor, Université Laval, regular CRIFPE researcher
Priscilla Boyer, professor, University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, regular researcher of CRIFPE and the CLÉ collective
Joane Deneault, professor, University of Quebec at Rimouski, regular CRIFPE researcher
Daniel Moreau, professor, University of Sherbrooke, regular CRIFPE researcher
Vincent Grenon, full professor, University of Sherbrooke, regular CRIFPE researcher
Charlaine St-Jean, professor, University of Quebec at Rimouski, regular CRIFPE researcher
France Dufour, professor, University of Quebec in Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
Carole Raby, professor, University of Quebec in Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
Catherine Simard, professor, University of Quebec at Rimouski, regular CRIFPE researcher
Alexandre Lanoix, professor, University of Montreal, regular CRIFPE researcher
Aline Niyubahwe, professor, University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, regular CRIFPE researcher