On Sunday afternoon, Minister Roberge announced the main orientations of the new program which will replace Ethics and Religious Culture (ECR) and which will henceforth be called Culture and Quebec Citizenship (CCQ).
Before expressing our wishes for the continuation, which remains unknown, we cannot ignore the spectacle side of the exercise. What was the intention and relevance of inviting public figures? We fully understand that they came to defend just and noble causes, causes that we support with them, of course. But did it serve the field of education or the electoral aims of the CAQ? Where were the education specialists and the experts responsible for the content of the new curriculum? We would have liked to see and hear the people who write the content of CCQ in order to know their expertise.
We must also underline a certain contempt for the current program which was embodied in particular by falsehoods during this press conference: no, everything was never acceptable in class in the name of any religious dogma – that is to say. ‘elsewhere clearly mentioned in the program. No, ECR did not limit the identity of the pupils to their religious affiliation alone! No, it was not a program that had taboos! No, ECR did not convey prejudices and stereotypes! It was very insulting to hear the minister himself say such aberrations.
In addition, we were deeply shocked and shocked by the biased presentation of the current program by the Minister of Education. Indeed, the entirety of the objectives of the ethics, dialogue and critical thinking axis is almost a copy and paste of the existing ethical competence in RCT! Also, on what conclusive studies, on what rigorous analyzes are all of these erroneous assertions based? Why not recall that the ECR program has already requested to promote the values of Quebec society and to develop a spirit of discernment with regard to the religious phenomenon?
Moreover, the disappearance of the competence focused on religious culture is not a surprise, but it remains distressing. Indeed, the consequences of religious lack of culture are known, and that is why international bodies such as the Council of Europe and UNESCO recommend education in religious matters, in particular to promote living together, to have the keys to understanding the world in which we live, without forgetting its contribution in the fight and prevention against violent radicalization.
Lastly, he would have been equally happy if the Minister took the time to reassure the students who are currently training in the teaching of the ECR program by assuring them of his desire to establish close collaboration with the universities.
Our wishes
That said, we consider that what is announced in this redesign is still promising in that it still maintains, as we wrote, relevant elements of continuity of the ECR program. We know how to distinguish the political game that instrumentalizes ECR for electoral purposes from the CCQ course itself. But, since we do not yet know the content elements or their distribution by cycle, here we wish to highlight fundamental principles which, we ardently hope, will be at the heart of CCQ and which were already at the basis of the ECR course. First, we insist on the importance of remaining in a process of ethical reflection and not in a moralizing and awareness-raising approach. The pitfall is real with subjects such as those related to sex education or the environment. Moreover, by speaking of moral dilemmas and not of ethical questions as the minister does, we can wonder about the way in which the pedagogical indications of these themes will be defined.
In addition, we hope that the requirements of impartiality and objectivity linked to the teacher’s professional posture, which are major achievements that have appeared with ECR, will remain.
The minister announced training and educational materials ready to be used. Nonetheless, we can’t wait to see how it all comes together. Indeed, many themes such as the legal system or sexuality, for example, require serious work of appropriation. Following a few hours of training and suggested activities will not be enough. Teaching is a professional act. It takes time to take ownership of such topics, in addition to thinking about the most efficient way to do it.
In short, even if the majority of the current teaching staff duly trained in RCT have, through the process of ethical reflection and the implementation of dialogue, a good basis on which to build in order to build new learning and evaluation situations, they will have to give him time to do so.
Finally, the teaching conditions will also be fundamental for the successful implementation of this new program. Too often, hours that should be allocated to ECR are taken away, especially for specific programs. Let us hope that when CCQ arrives, the Minister will take the opportunity to insist on the relevance of respecting the hours provided for the teaching of this new program, which promises to be relevant, but also demanding.