Quebec has approved three university programs leading to the teaching certificate without waiting for the opinion of a committee of experts responsible for their quality. It is in “the interest of Quebecers,” says the office of Minister of Education Jean-François Roberge.
Posted at 6:11 p.m.
The shortage of teachers in Quebec schools means that thousands of unqualified teachers work there every year. In an attempt to remedy this, the Ministry of Education recently authorized three new courses that lead to the teaching certificate.
They will be offered by the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and TÉLUQ University.
Now, for the second time in just over a year, the Minister of Education has given his approval to these study programs without waiting for the opinion of the Committee for the Accreditation of Teacher Training Programs ( CAPFE), denounces its president.
Two of these programs were in the process of being accredited, but “modifications” had to be made to that of TÉLUQ university, we read in a letter sent to the minister on Wednesday by Marc-André Éthier, president of CAPFE.
“There have been calls from the minister’s office several times, a form of political interference, to tell my committee to go faster, while it is doing its analyzes at the speed it can, diligently and seriously. says Mr. Éthier, who is also a professor in the Faculty of Education at the Université de Montréal.
In a letter sent to the Minister on Wednesday, the CAPFE announces that it is suspending its work, which has “the sole concern of ensuring that all approved programs are of high quality, which is an essential condition for promoting teaching profession”.
On the website of the Ministry of Education, it is indeed indicated that it is this committee which “recommends to the Minister to designate the accredited programs, among those which give access to the legal authorization to teach in Quebec” .
In the office of Minister Jean-François Roberge, they say they read “carefully” each opinion submitted by the committee. “Thereafter, we make the best decisions in the interest of Quebecers,” writes the minister’s press attaché, Florent Tanlet.
According to the Ministry of Education, 3,757 teachers were not legally qualified in 2020-2021, three times more than five years earlier.