As we know, TELUQ responded to the Minister of Education’s request to offer short qualifying training for more than 4,800 teachers who were not legally qualified, but just over 70% of whom would still have a bachelor’s or master’s degree. . Despite this flexibility in hiring, hundreds of positions would still not be filled. We are therefore faced with a serious and socially catastrophic situation that the faculties (and departments) of education do not seem to have foreseen and to which they are responding without evident vigor.
The announcement of this program aroused reactions of indignation from several members of the elite of university education faculties. For what ? Essentially, they defend the idea that a longer and more “comprehensive” teacher training would be of better quality and more effective. Oh yes ? What are they basing this on?
Has the long four-year training adopted several years ago led to an improvement in the skills of the teaching staff and in the performance of the students? It does not seem that this subject has aroused great interest among university faculty and, in the end, it is not known, although peripheral data indicate fundamental problems and undoubtedly a certain mediocrity, which should have long since justified a commotion within the faculties. It was not the case.
How to explain the indecent lethargy of the university seraglio in front of the dropout rate (which would be 25% to 50%) of students in certain regions before the end of the training? Once again, this subject does not cause any effervescence, and the faculties still do not collect the data so that they are publicly accessible and understandable. How to explain that the teaching staff in certain regions massively abandons the profession (up to 50%) in the first five years? Could this be related to the shameful place still occupied in 2023 by the teaching of pedagogical myths and legends in the faculties of education as if they were real knowledge?
At a minimum, with the previous elements, one can question the effectiveness of the faculties of education, worry about the apathy of the latter in the face of the poor results they obtain and the nonchalance in the face of their social responsibility.
Change the game
The TELUQ project may not be perfect, but it is a brave attempt to change the game in the training of teaching staff who are in service and who are not legally qualified. It is obvious that a laborious process of qualification for these people risks leading to their eventual abandonment of training and no doubt of the profession.
Faculties are well aware that master’s completion rates are low. They also know that their students with a job and a family are more at risk of not completing their training, a reality probably shared by a good percentage of the teaching staff who are not qualified in service. According to some available data, the qualifying mastery of faculties is likely to be a beautiful balloon that is not very popular and has low completion. If the faculties had wanted to indicate to Quebec society that they have no viable idea to offer, they would not have acted differently.
Will the TELUQ project obtain results superior to long faculty training? We obviously don’t know. What we do know, however, is that in the United States a short course gives similar results to a longer course. This would be a start, but a very modest start since obtaining results comparable to long training courses is not a glory, far from it. Let’s hope that TELUQ will make every effort to monitor the effects of short training on the professional skills and performance of students by comparing them to teaching staff who have benefited from long training. Who knows ? This may give ideas to other faculties of education…
Finally, it should not be forgotten that the continuing professional development of teaching staff is included in a certain number of texts governing the profession and that it can fill gaps. In this regard, it would no doubt be necessary to leave training-entertainment without a future in order to introduce training based on scientific research and conclusive data.
The image of Émilie Bordeleau seems to me to reflect a joyful and humble young teacher, who would have assumed her responsibilities and recognized her weaknesses. Train Emilies and Émile Bordeleaus? Why not ! And the faculties of education could even draw inspiration from it for themselves.