Major players in education are also considering ways to reduce teacher shortages and are not opposed to the idea that the bachelor’s degree in teaching lasts three years instead of four.
What there is to know
• Since 1994, the baccalaureate to train students lasted four years.
• The program was then limited and teaching jobs were difficult to find. Everything changed.
• Given the shortages, the idea of returning to a three-year baccalaureate, accompanied by an internship or a residency, is gaining ground.
The Press announced Friday that the Legault government was considering the idea of shortening the baccalaureate in teaching. According to one of the scenarios being studied, the training could be condensed and the internships shortened.
This did not fail to provoke a reaction.
“We are not against the idea, these are interesting solutions,” begins Kathleen Legault, president of the Montreal Association of School Directors which covers French-speaking school service centers on the island of Montreal.
However, she insists: universities will have to continue to supervise their students so that all this responsibility does not fall on already overwhelmed school staff.
Mme Legault is open to various options, but she recalls that on the ground, the significant presence “of unqualified people already puts a lot of pressure on teachers”.
Experienced teachers have to help a lot those who have neither a certificate nor adequate training, she explains, so it would be difficult for them to have to also support young people on internships.
Does she consider it realistic that the curriculum would be narrowed, that some perhaps boring courses could be eliminated and that the baccalaureate would be completed in three years? “Indeed,” replied M.me Legault, we must analyze the content of the courses […]. Is it still adequate in 2023? Does it take the student profile into account? Should we go further in recognizing prior learning so that people feel less like they are wasting their time in classes? »
Soon an opinion from the Higher Council of Education
The Superior Council of Education, whose mission since 1964 has been to ensure the development of education in Quebec and to advise the minister, is about to publish an opinion on the question of the training of future teachers, explains in interviews its president, Monique Brodeur.
“Several avenues are considered, always with a concern for quality and flexibility,” she said, emphasizing being sensitive to both shortages and the need for good training for future teachers.
The conclusions of the opinion of the Superior Council of Education cannot be revealed immediately since the report must first be sent to the minister and tabled in the National Assembly. It will take a few more weeks.
However, she notes, “the officials already have it in their hands” as they are looking into this matter.
A “devaluation” of the profession
For her part, Josée Scalabrini, president of the Federation of Education Unions, said she was surprised to learn through The Press the scenario envisaged by the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville.
“The temptation to reduce the duration of training adds to years of devaluation of our profession, while the duration of the baccalaureate had precisely been extended to allow better training,” reacted Mme Scalabrini.
However, the FSE-CSQ is indeed already considering the issue.
“The FSE is currently carrying out work on pathways to qualification both for those who are not legally qualified and for those who would like to complete a baccalaureate in teaching. We will soon have concrete solutions for him [le ministre Bernard Drainville] present which will have been thought through in depth with the teachers,” continued Brigitte Bilodeau, first vice-president of the FSE-CSQ and responsible for educational files.
Last year, the FSE-CSQ consulted its members on the idea of transforming the fourth year of the baccalaureate in teaching into a residency year. The vast majority of respondents, 88.3%, said they were in favor. “It is a starting point for our analysis work which aims to maintain the quality and promotion of training, while facilitating access to the profession. We invite the minister to listen to teachers and discuss with us,” concluded Mr.me Scalabrini.