Dear Prime Minister Legault and Minister Drainville,
From the 1970s onwards, vocational training languished on the sidelines of the Quebec school system. This is why the vocational training (VT) modernization plan launched in 2021 was welcomed with enthusiasm by stakeholders in the sector. The desire to promote and make VT attractive and to improve the training offer and associated financing are all breaths of fresh air for this long-neglected sector.
Of course, nothing is perfect, but the PF is used to irritants. However, the situation goes beyond the inconvenience, and the threat of a return to the siding hangs over the FP.
The announcement of the creation of short training courses in construction trades is causing a tsunami in FP circles. On October 30, the Construction Training Offensive was officially launched by the Quebec government. The shortened training offer aims to qualify 4,000 to 5,000 workers in highly sought-after trades (carpentry-joinery, excavator operation, heavy equipment operation, tinsmithing, refrigeration, electricity and piping), with scholarships for students. If the reason is valid, the risk of slippage disqualifies the chosen means.
Certainly, the need for qualified workers is glaring in these professions. On the other hand, the strategy deployed risks giving catastrophic results and clearly goes in the opposite direction to that taken by the modernization of the PF. Already, the call process for professional training centers (CFP) was highly problematic. In fact, at the end of September, the CFPs received an invitation to express their interest in offering these training courses from January 2024. They had 24 hours to indicate their interest, in a file accessible to all, without regard to the distribution of the training cards. teaching, expertise and resources in place. A steak thrown into an enclosure of hungry lions!
Declining enrollments in several programs are forcing CFPs to use imagination to recruit students, provide them with quality training and keep stable and competent teaching teams in place. Creating this rat race from scratch is a negation of local expertise and the professionalism of teachers, and a threat to the quality of the trained workforce as well as the safety of qualified workers. A simple answer to a complex problem? Seductive, but counterproductive.
It is essential to reinvest the experience with the accelerated health programs established during the pandemic. Documentation of their effects is in its early stages, but in educational and health settings, the after-effects are visible, as noted in the recent annual report of the Public Protector. Cannibalism between training programs (teachers and potential students), massive recruitment of unqualified teachers, exhaustion of teams, integration difficulties and questionable level of competence of graduates, increased risks of professional injuries, but, above all, high risks for healthcare recipients. In health as in construction, it is paradoxical to try to increase the versatility and skills of workers by reducing the duration of training!
There are certainly areas for improvement with regard to the duration and training objectives of the programs, and it is logical to question decisions made decades ago. Offering short training programs, using nesting dolls, for example, can be interesting (to the extent that financial incentives also favor longer programs and, therefore, that skills enhancement is valued!). However, their creation process must be considered globally, in collaboration with CFP stakeholders and the workplace.
FP has progressed over the last 20 years, in particular thanks to significant work to upgrade the Ministry of Education. The improvement in the qualifications of teachers, the development of research in this area, and the commitment and hard work of stakeholders in the field have also had a significant impact on this development. However, Law 23 sounds the death knell for the training of competent and professional teachers, and now there is added this trend towards the establishment of short training courses, which “produces” workers with lower skills. A complete scuttling of a training sector which was barely sticking its head out of the water.
Officially, modernization is pushing the VT sector forward, but the rushed offering of short training courses is forcing a painful shift into reverse. Before the mechanics break, let’s take the time to think, to consult and ensure that modernization does not constitute an unfortunate step back into the ruts of the siding.