“Excessive evaluation”, “school segregation”, “lack of resources”: the findings of the citizen initiative Let’s Talk Education are relentless. The group of education organizations behind this approach held around twenty citizen forums last spring in 19 cities in Quebec. In light of the discussions, he preaches a redefinition of the very mission of the school.
Nearly 1,000 people expressed their views on the future of the education system as part of these forums covering preschool, primary and secondary education as well as general adult education and vocational training. At the same time, some 640 young people expressed themselves in around fifty “youth workshops”.
The Debout pour l’école collective, one of the organizations that orchestrated the forums, summarized the discussions in a document published on December 5. The summary prides itself on being “the most extensive critical look ever taken at the Quebec education system since the Estates General on Education of 1995-1996.”
The spokesperson for Debout pour l’école and retired high school and university professor, Suzanne-G. Chartrand, also participated in these last Estates General. “The mission of the school is completely misguided to the extent that it is no longer to educate […]it is no longer about developing real skills like reading and writing, but it is about succeeding, that is to say performing well in exams,” she explains in an interview with Duty.
Worrying findings
Among the findings that emerged from the consultations, we note the denunciation of the inequity of the school system. “The subsidized private school reproduces social classes: the elites send their children there, because they see it as a maintained form of early networking, and, moreover, are completely disinterested in public school,” we can read in the report.
“Everyone talks about the three-speed system,” says Mme Chartrand. We talk about school segregation. » She deplores the separation of students between selective special projects in public schools, private schools and “ordinary classes which are no longer ordinary”.
The document also maintains that “the increasing number of students from immigrant backgrounds living in different cities do not receive all the services necessary for their integration”. As for Inuit and First Nations students, “we emphasize the existence of racist and negative prejudices” against them.
It is also worrying to note that more than half of the students consulted indicated that they would not want to teach in the system. “It’s serious,” laments M.me Chartrand. When I saw this, I almost cried. »
And now ?
Several of the document’s conclusions echo the demands of teachers currently on strike. Participants in the forums also highlighted the need to “enhance school staff and improve their working conditions”. “If working conditions were [meilleures], there would be fewer resignations and we would have more teachers,” says Suzanne-G. Chartrand.
So what can we do with this summary of hundreds of points of view? “Our project is to have a national meeting on education at the beginning of 2025,” said Mme Chartrand. Until then, the group will develop “extremely precise demands, in a very limited number […]and very articulate to identify the priorities of the education system in Quebec.
The spokesperson for Debout pour l’école now wants to work in concert with unions, parent organizations and education researchers. “The idea is to [rassembler]in the next year, as many people as possible to develop a balance of power” which would make their demands unavoidable for the government.