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Posted yesterday at 4:00 p.m.
I would like to know why teachers do not yet have a professional order.
Mathieu Lachance
Hello,
This is a question that has been debated for a long time and regularly resurfaces in Quebec.
It should be recalled from the outset that the primary goal of a professional order is to protect the public. The first request to establish such an order for teachers was made by the Conseil Pédagogique InterDisciplinaire du Québec in 1997.
Since then, several politicians have taken up the idea. Here is what François Legault said about it during the 2012 election campaign:
“I am convinced, first as a parent, but also as a former Minister of Education, that the creation of a professional order represents an important milestone in ensuring the quality of the education given to our children throughout Quebec and in finally give teachers the status they deserve, that of true education professionals. »
Ten years later, François Legault is prime minister. But the vision did not materialize.
Why ? Mainly because the teachers themselves and the unions that represent them have always opposed the creation of such an order.
In 2002, the Office des professions du Québec (OPQ) produced an opinion on the relevance of creating an order for preschool, elementary and secondary school teachers. It reads that “teaching is like a profession” and meets the criteria for creating an order.
The OPQ notes that teachers must have knowledge and skills “that not everyone has” and that they have a certain autonomy in the exercise of their profession. Teachers are also likely to harvest personal information about their students and can cause significant harm if they do their job poorly.
All this pleads for the creation of a professional order. The OPQ concludes, however, that such an order is not necessary since “the State ensures the appropriate supervision”.
This assertion is questionable.
In Ontario, there is a professional order for teachers. And the management of complaints, in particular, is much more transparent and less scattered than in Quebec.
The Ontario College of Teachers has an Investigation Committee and a Discipline Committee. A “professional aptitude” committee intervenes when the allegations concern the inability of the teacher to do his job.
The decisions of the various committees are public. On the Order’s website, it is very easy to find out if a teacher has already been the subject of a complaint. In Quebec, no similar register exists, and you will have to call schools, school service centers and the Ministry of Education to try to find out if a teacher has already been the subject of a complaint. Good luck.
All of this leads us to say that the never-settled question of a professional order for teachers deserves to be revived.