Thin glimmer of hope for the school network faced with the shortage of teachers: the number of enrollments in teaching programs is again on the rise in several universities, even if the increase is far from sufficient to fill future needs, according to an expert.
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According to figures obtained by The newspaperfuture professors are more numerous in the five universities that provided us with preliminary data for the fall 2022 semester.
The increase is notably 7.6% at the University of Quebec in Rimouski, 6% at Laval University and 4% at the University of Sherbrooke, compared to the previous year.
This is a trend that began a few years ago, after a long period marked by a decline.
The increase is especially felt in the preschool and primary education programs, but it is much more timid in the secondary.
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At Université Laval, where the number of teaching students has increased by 34% over the past five years, the dean of the Faculty of Education, Annabelle Viau-Guay, believes that “the course offer adapted to the labor market”, the possibility of doing work placements and a recruitment campaign carried out on social networks can partly explain this renewed interest.
However, some programs are struggling to attract students, such as those in the teaching of English as a second language or special education, where the number of registrations is down in some universities.
$20,000 to become a teacher
Since this fall, full-time teaching students are eligible for Perspectives scholarships, which aim to increase the number of registrations in programs where the labor shortage is particularly felt.
These students can receive $2,500 after each successful session, for a total of $20,000 at the end of their four-year bachelor’s degree.
In this context, one would have expected that the number of registrations in teaching will climb much more, affirms Geneviève Sirois, professor at TÉLUQ University. “I would have expected better than that,” she says.
Insufficient increase
The overall increase observed this fall remains “positive”, but it is not marked enough to correct the situation, she adds. “Will that be enough to give the boost we need? Clearly, no,” she says.
Ms. Sirois recalls that the graduation rate of future teachers is very low in some programs, even falling below 60% in some establishments.
Over the next few years, the increase in the number of pupils will be felt above all in secondary schools, while up to 32,000 permanent teachers could retire by 2030, according to estimates by the Center de recherche interuniversitaire sur training and the teaching profession reported by The newspaper Start of the week.
For ten years, Quebec has granted an average of 3,800 teaching certificates each year. If this rate is maintained, we can estimate that the school network could count on a little more than 21,000 new qualified teachers by 2030, if we take into account that at least 30% abandon the profession in the first five years following their graduation.