Nearly 70% of teachers in the youth sector favor a return to class on January 17, but demand additional measures to keep them and students safe, according to a survey by the Federation of Teachers’ Unions (FSE‐CSQ) made public on Thursday.
• Read also: Survey: significant decline in support for the CAQ
• Read also: “Shedding” and “volunteer parents” as reinforcements in schools
In vocational training (FP), this percentage drops to 77% who want a return to face-to-face on January 17. Among them, about 40% want additional measures to ensure safety in schools. In adult general education (FGA), two-thirds of teachers wanted to return to class, and nearly half of them are calling for additional measures.
“If security is not there, the government will have to revise its plan to avoid making the school environment a place of spread where we work without sufficient protection. We are currently seeing this with the specialized schools which are face-to-face and which are experiencing many outbreaks. It will take us a clear, coherent and reassuring message for schools and centers indicating that they are safe places to learn,” said Josée Scalabrini, president of the FSE-CSQ.
The FSE also asked teachers about the measures they consider important, but to which they do not have access.
Thus, nearly 70% of teachers in the youth sector consider it essential that rapid tests be available for all students and staff. This proportion is 71% at the FP, and 73% at the FGA.
They are 58% to find it essential to quickly obtain the results of the PCR tests for the teaching staff (48% at the FP, 55% at the FGA).
More than half of respondents from the youth sector are also calling for better air quality (57%) and want a negative test to be required before an infected student returns to class (59%). These proportions are 40% and 50% at the FP, and 53% and 55% at the FGA.
Finally, about a third of teachers, all sectors combined, demand access to N95 masks.