Due to days missed due to public sector strikes, teaching students do not know if their fall internship will be validated. It will be “for the vast majority [des cas] during the current session,” assures Jean Bélanger, dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences at UQAM.
“At the moment, it’s really uncertain,” says Florence Martineau, who studies teaching French as a second language at UQAM. On November 6, the 23-year-old woman began an internship which was to last six weeks. However, November 20 was his last day at this high school, due to the start of strikes in the public sector which is negotiating with Quebec for the renewal of collective agreements.
Mme Martineau, however, says she became worried after reading an email sent by management to students on December 6. The message announced the terms adopted by the University’s Board of Directors, concerning, among other things, internships that cannot be completed within the framework of the fall 2023 term calendar. In this case, “the students concerned are assigned the symbol # (delay authorized for submission of a result). This grade must be converted into a literal grade by January 31, 2025. The students concerned will therefore have an additional year to complete their internship. »
In interview at DutyJean Bélanger maintains, however, that in the majority of cases, internships will be validated during the current session. “Students for whom we have enough records to assess their skills at the internship level, this will be done without there being a retake or anything. »
“But there are a small number of students for whom we currently believe that we do not necessarily have all the sufficient traces and that we cannot say that the person is a failure or that they have fully qualified,” he continues.
Mr. Bélanger therefore affirms that those responsible for the different programs are looking at scenarios to have more time to evaluate these aspiring teachers. “There are several solutions that will allow us to do an adequate evaluation and allow them to finish within the year so as not to delay their journey. » Press releases will be issued soon on this subject, he states.
Various realities
The various realities that coexist within the faculty of education sciences at UQAM partly explain the complexity of finding solutions to this situation, raises Jean Bélanger. “There are different internships and different programs that did not all start at the same time,” he illustrates.
Clara Gosselin-Saucier, a third-year bachelor’s student in preschool and primary education at UQAM, is however eager to know what will happen with her file. This fall, the 28-year-old mother began a thirty-three day internship in the classroom with the students.
Certain Common Front strike sequences in her internship environment caused her to miss days when she was supposed to teach entirely. “I don’t have an answer yet if my internship will be validated or not. So I have no idea what will happen,” she said, adding that she was still able to carry out most of her assessments and work.
If the situation varies from one student to another, this is also the case between universities, estimates Marie-Claude Boivin, director of practical training and the Initial Teacher Training Center (CFIM) at the University of Montreal. “What we decided to do is not to cancel training courses and not to do any resumption,” she says.
A “better workplace”
Even if the strike impacts her school career, Florence Martineau maintains that she is in favor of it. “It would really be contradictory to say that I am against it. It’s for my future and that of future teachers,” she says.
Clara Gosselin-Saucier also supports the movement led by public sector employees. “Above all, I would like working conditions to be improved when I enter the job market,” she explains.
She says she noticed during her teaching internships how difficult the current situation is for teachers. “The heaviness of the task and the composition of the classes probably means that many students become discouraged,” she laments.