The shortage of staff in Quebec schools is even greater than we thought. Nearly 2,600 jobs are currently vacant in the school network, including nearly a thousand teaching positions.
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The most recent figures from the Ministry of Education, obtained by The newspaper, come from a data collection dated February 28 in which almost all school service centers (71 out of 72) participated.
In addition to the 927 vacant teaching positions, the school network is looking for several hundred daycare educators, special education technicians and professionals (see down there).
These figures include regular full-time positions and “part-time” positions. However, for teachers, this category refers to “part-time, replacement and lesson contracts”, so that maternity or sick leave replacements are also part of it, even if they are full-time. .
However, it is difficult to compare these figures with other data collections carried out by the ministry, as the number of service centers that participate fluctuates considerably.
At the beginning of November, The newspaper reported that 1,600 positions were still vacant in the school network, but that only 51 service centers had then provided data to the ministry on this subject.
- A shortage of directors is also raging in Quebec. Listen to Cybèle Olivier’s chronicle at the microphone of Richard Martineau via QUB-radio :
The school becomes a “daycare center”
But the situation is getting worse beyond any doubt, affirm in heart unions and school management. “It becomes excessively difficult to manage on a daily basis,” says Nicolas Prévost, president of the Quebec Federation of Educational Establishment Directors (FQDE).
School principals, daycare educators and even parents must be called in to help out in the classrooms to replace teachers who are absent temporarily or for an extended period, indicates Mr. Prévost.
“We do occupational. We have someone who comes to take care of the safety of the students, but there is no concrete teaching that is done. It may be a harsh term, but it becomes a daycare centre, ”he drops.
To remedy the situation, the FQDE believes that no new 4-year-old kindergarten class should be created as long as the shortage persists.
At the Federation of Teachers’ Unions, we reiterate that the solution lies in improving working conditions. “The bleeding will have to be stopped at some point. That’s why the negotiations we are going through are so important,” says its president, Josée Scalabrini.
The latter is sorry for the employer’s offers on the table, which have “no common sense in relation to what is currently happening,” she said.
As for the school service centers, the president of the federation representing them, Caroline Dupré, is also counting on the ongoing negotiations to “find exceptional solutions to an exceptional situation”.
In the shorter term, more teaching students should be available to do substitute teaching at the end of their university term, starting at the end of April, she points out.
However, the shortage is far from being limited to teachers, recalls the Federation of Parents’ Committees. In some schools, fifth and sixth year students no longer have access to childcare due to lack of staff, even if it is an “essential service” for parents, deplores its president, Kevin Roy.
- Listen to Richard Martineau’s interview with Josée Scalabrini, President of the Federation of Teachers’ Unions via QUB-radio :
Vacancies in Quebec schools
Teachers*
- 71 full time positions
- 856 part-time positions
Educators in service on duty
- 57 full time positions
- 456 part-time positions
Education Technicians specialized
- 305 full time positions
- 280 part-time positions
Psychologists
- 130 full time positions
- 50 part-time positions
Speech therapists
- 105 full time positions
- 59 part-time positions
Psychoeducators
- 144 full time positions
- 46 part-time positions
Direction
Deputy directors
TOTAL: 2594 VACANCIES
* “Part-time” positions may also include full-time maternity or sick leave replacements.
Source: data collection carried out by the Ministry of Education, dated February 28, 2023, in which 71 of the 72 school service centers participated.