A qualified teacher does not understand why her application as a substitute teacher was refused by a school service centre, which nevertheless often has to resort to emergency replacement in the midst of a staff shortage.
• Read also – Shortage of teachers: Minister Drainville is working on solutions
• Read also – Two months after the start of the school year: more than 1,600 vacancies in Quebec schools
“I’m swimming in a pool of incomprehension”, is surprised Karine Richard, 44 years old.
A week ago, she learned that her application as a substitute teacher had been rejected by the Center de services scolaire des Mille-Îles (CSSMI), in the Laurentians.
The announcement fell after a selection process of more than a month, including a “very impersonal” and cold interview by videoconference, she says.
“Your application, despite the interest it represents, has not been retained at this stage of our hiring process,” the email reads.
However, she has her certificate and a bachelor’s degree in teaching French as a second language, two documents that The newspaper has consulted.
Mme Richard has 14 years of experience as a teacher, 4 years in high school in schools on the North Shore and 10 years in francization in Montreal.
Not the only one
“I just want to do substitute work,” she says impatiently. “It seems to me that I have nevertheless proven myself”.
She asked the CSSMI for the reason for the refusal. “Unfortunately, we do not do personalized follow-up with each of the candidates whose application has not been accepted”, he was told.
Mme Richard is not the only qualified person to have been refused by the CSSMI in recent weeks.
The newspaper spoke to a retired engineer who also has his teaching certificate, who has already taught in secondary schools as well as in CEGEP, and whose application as a substitute was refused after the interview.
However, he asked to remain anonymous as he now works as a substitute at another service center.
great needs
At the Basses-Laurentides education union, however, it is indicated that the shortage is real, with the management regularly having recourse to emergency replacement, that is to say a system which makes it possible to oblige certain teachers to replace in another’s class.
“We are in a context of labor shortage, but we do not want to lower our standards of excellence for all that,” explains Mélanie Poirier of the CSSMI by email.
The reasons that can explain why a candidate is not selected are numerous and can range from having “bad references”, “criminal background”, to not “corresponding to the values of the organization”. .
No history
Karine Richard claims to have no stain on her file, nor any criminal record.
The two former directors she had put as references changed establishments because of staff turnover, she explains.
She took a four-year hiatus from teaching, in part to focus on her three children as well as other pursuits, such as her writing projects, she explains.
She will soon be moving to her husband’s house in Sainte-Thérèse and therefore hoped to make a gradual return to teaching in schools near her future home, while keeping her current job in the restaurant industry.
“The only thing I see [qui pourrait expliquer le refus], is if they searched social networks. They may have seen that I was a proofreader and editor for pinnaclea men’s entertainment magazine, she says.
Are you having trouble getting hired at a school service centre? Write to us at [email protected]