This text is part of the special Higher Education notebook
Qualifying master’s degrees in primary or secondary education, specialized higher education diplomas (DESS), shortened paths to accelerate access to the diploma… Quebec universities are putting their hands to work to rethink their education training while preserving their quality , in order to counter the teacher shortage which affects the entire province.
In 2021, the Minister of Education at the time, Jean-François Roberge, appealed to universities to act against the glaring shortage of teachers in the province. Last year, it was Bernard Drainville’s turn to call on the university community to accelerate the upgrading of non-legally qualified teachers and enable them to obtain their certificate.
For several years, the faculties of education of the various universities in the province have been racking their brains to offer new graduate programs in education. These programs, which multiply every year, all have their particularities.
The content of a baccalaureate, condensed into a master’s degree
For several weeks, Laval University has been offering a qualifying master’s degree in preschool and primary school teaching, a 60-credit program that can be completed in two years (including internships) on a full-time basis, and which leads to the holy grail: a teaching certificate , one of the conditions that allow teachers to obtain a permanent position. The program was officially launched on August 12, and the 40 available places were filled in less than two weeks.
This is roughly the content of the bachelor’s degree in preschool and primary education, which includes 120 credits, condensed intensively, and offered in a comodal format, that is to say it allows students to attend to classes on site or to participate remotely. This training program is aimed at anyone who already has a bachelor’s degree, regardless of their discipline, explains the dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences (FSE) at Laval University, Anabelle Viau-Guay.
Mme Viau-Guay and his team are banking on the idea that students who already have an undergraduate degree, and who know how the university works, are ready to follow a more sustained pace. “We cover all the major learning areas of the Quebec school training program, but in a condensed manner, and we expect these students to be fairly autonomous in searching for information for the areas they know. less,” she adds.
The faculty does not require, moreover, any employment relationship as a teacher to be admitted to its programs, including qualifying master’s degrees. “According to our vision, anyone wishing to become a teacher and meeting the other admission criteria should be offered the opportunity to do so,” underlines the dean of the FSE.
For non-legally qualified teachers
At the University of Sherbrooke (UdeS), the vision is different. To be admitted to the qualifying master’s degree in secondary teaching, the student must already be a teacher (not legally qualified), in addition to having a bachelor’s degree in their field of teaching (mathematics or literature, for example). “We are careful, because someone who finishes their CEGEP should not say to themselves: I am going to do my disciplinary training and then go and do my qualifying master’s degree afterwards… We really believe that the best training after CEGEP , it’s the baccalaureate,” indicates the vice-dean for training at the Faculty of Education of the University of Sherbrooke, Matthieu Petit.
The UdeS is also a pioneer in the field: the qualifying master’s degree in secondary teaching has existed since 2008 and is now given exclusively online and part-time (since it is aimed at teachers already working full-time full who wish to obtain their patent).
Since September, it has gone from 60 to 45 credits, to accelerate the graduation of students. “We wanted to make it shorter, but we didn’t want to cut into the quality of the training,” explains Mr. Petit, specifying that he understands the outcry in relation to “discount training”. The faculty therefore chose to eliminate the final master’s essay, which took on the size of a research master’s thesis, and to remove two out of three optional courses, without however affecting the internships.
Even faster training (but without a certificate)
The University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) also offers qualifying master’s degrees in teaching at the secondary level (concentration in mathematics and French) and at the primary level for two years (with an employment link obligation). But it also offers DESS, 30-credit training courses entirely remotely and part-time.
After setting up DESS in secondary education last year, mathematics and French concentrations, the UQAT Education Sciences Teaching and Research Unit will offer a new concentration in education in the fall of 2025. social universe (i.e. history and geography). “We must offer as many concentrations as possible in secondary education so that the students, who are ultimately the priority, have quality teachers,” underlines Jean-Marc Nolla, director of the qualifying master’s degree and the qualifying DESS in teaching. in secondary school at UQAT.
This shorter training, established at the request of the Ministry of Education, does not lead directly to the certificate, but rather to a provisional teaching permit. Students must then complete a probationary internship of 600 to 900 hours in their workplace, before being able to access their certificate. However, this internship is not overseen by the University, but by the ministry and the school service center.
Since 2010, UQAT has also offered a 30-credit certificate in support in primary education, created to support substitute teachers. “It does not lead to a certificate, but it gives tools to get these teachers to intervene as best as possible with students,” specifies Jean-Marc Nolla.
Still other universities are adapting their program offerings to meet the workforce needs of the sector. The University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) now offers a DESS in preschool education and primary education, while reducing the number of credits on its master’s degree in arts teaching. In a distance format, TELUQ University will offer, from 2025, four new programs to its DESS in teaching offering.
Training in Quebec citizenship and culture
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Dutyrelating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.