As part of Public School Week, it is impossible not to think of the current context, which is marked by worrying school dropouts, an alarming shortage of teachers and a three-tier school which compromises the principle of equality of odds. Faced with the growing diversity of the educational needs of our children, while excessive centralization of powers is taking place in the hands of the minister, we must stop denying the problems that weaken the foundations of our education system. Let’s stop applying band-aids that neither help our young people succeed nor our society develop and prosper.
Unfortunately, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has an accounting vision of education and generally reduces educational success to simple percentages.
Thanks to Céline Saint-Pierre for allowing me to discover the vision of Meirieu and Guiraud, which is much more inspiring, and demanding, regarding the contribution of our education system for young people who must benefit from it, and not only succeed: “Our world needs individuals capable of understanding complexity, of imagining new solutions, of subjecting technological progress to social, ethical, moral, legal and legal principles. Our world has a vital need for individuals who are part of a humanity whose past they know, who master the skills necessary to participate in collective life in the present and who know how to invent and control the future. »
Since the General Assembly on Education in 1995, the social and technological context has changed radically. The omnipresence of social networks among our young people and screens in our hyperconnected society, the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), disinformation, populism, climate change and population migrations require a continuous reassessment of our public education policies. However, the recommendations of the Higher Council of Education (CSE) — which recognize these changes and challenges — are often ignored, to the point that the current government has abolished this essential independent institution.
Faced with a shortage that it can no longer deny, it is incredible that the government does not have data to understand the massive departure of young teachers, up to 50% of whom leave the profession after five years. Rather than deploring the shortages, we should seek to know and understand the reasons for this disaster, and legislate based on best practices to stop it.
This government’s desire for centralization is based on its mercantile and accounting vision of education, shared by the former governments of the Liberal Party of Quebec. The CSE has long suggested decentralizing and regionalizing government action in education, because educational action must be as close as possible to the student, their family and their community.
However, the policies of the last two CAQ education ministers have centralized powers in an unparalleled manner, making the minister all-powerful, to the point of allowing him to dictate local directives and dismiss the CEOs of school service centers. . Contrary to what Bill 40 promised, which was to give more autonomy to schools by transforming school boards into school service centers.
Over time, clientelism has become the norm in the Quebec school market and has distorted our vision of education, while separating us. Indeed, too many parents see schools more as service providers rather than partners. The ultimate symbol of this clientelism, the school rankings clearly illustrate that education is no longer perceived as a common good (and therefore a collective responsibility), but as an individual product of a society which increasingly atomizes individuals. . This clientelism also devalues the teaching profession and imposes a new bureaucracy on our school administrations.
In our French-speaking American society, we must change our relationship with education so that it ensures cultural transmission and the values that are dear to us while promoting national cohesion. We must collectively regain control of education so that all young people have access to quality education in their community.
All of society must get involved: families, communities, businesses, unions, media, youth centers, libraries, municipalities, cultural centers, CLSCs, everyone. The only way to achieve this is to stand together and put an end to cronyism in our education system.