Correction impossible, outings canceled, unbearable heat. The new dates for the ministerial end-of-year primary exams caused such an outcry on Friday that the Ministry of Education decided to go back to the drawing board.
“I won’t be able to accompany my graduates for their exit because I have to correct?” said an outraged teacher from Outaouais in an interview with Newspaper Friday morning. She preferred to remain anonymous to avoid reprisals from her employer.
His reaction is similar to that of the many teachers whose comments have ignited social networks, notably accusing the ministry of being “disconnected” from the field.
Normally, most end-of-year ministerial tests are held between mid-May and mid-June. Due to the catch-up necessary to compensate for the delay caused by the teachers’ strike, Minister Bernard Drainville announced that the exams would be postponed by 2 to 7 days.
Surprise
Thursday afternoon, the Ministry of Education released its new dates. However, they were later than the minister had suggested.
For example, the mathematics exam of 6e year, which was originally scheduled to take place June 4-6, was pushed back to June 17-19.
- Listen to Bernard Drainville’s interview with Yasmine Abdelfadel via QUB :
However, in most school service centers (CSS), the last day in the presence of students is June 21, or even June 20 at the Montreal CSS.
Friday morning, the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ) and the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) published a message on Facebook saying they had contacted the ministry to ask it to change the dates.
“Our teachers of 6e year were really unhappy, really very angry,” notes Brigitte Bilodeau, vice-president of the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ).
Brigitte Bilodeau, vice-president of the Federation of Education Unions.
Courtesy Pascal Ratthé / FSE-CSQ
Finally, the ministry confirmed to Newspaper that he will submit a new calendar, at least for primary. At the end of Friday afternoon, however, he had not yet released the new dates.
End of year activities
The new calendar would have forced some primary school teachers to be absent or to cancel fun activities and educational outings planned for the last days of class in order to correct exams. For example, some schools had planned a music show, sports Olympics or a trip to Ottawa.
In addition, this would have required finding a large number of substitutes since all of these teachers would have had to be released at the same time.
Several schools also have the habit of organizing a party evening for year 6 graduates.e year. The latter would have had exams the next day.
Furthermore, several teachers highlighted the difficulty for students to concentrate due to the heat and lack of air conditioning in the classes.
“We often say it: if you consulted people in the field upstream, we would avoid problems,” recalls Brigitte Bilodeau.
“Sacrifices”
“I think it had a good intention,” she adds. Considering the days lost [en raison de la grève]the ministry wanted to give as much time as possible to allow learning to catch up.”
On the side of the Regroupement des Comités de Parents Autonomes du Québec (RCPAQ), we believe that catching up should have taken priority.
“In order to make up for lost days, certain sacrifices must be made and activities unrelated to the subject taught are unfortunately part of these sacrifices,” responded Sylvain Martel, spokesperson for the RCPAQ, in writing.
Excerpts from the calendar released Thursday:
June 14: Mathematics, technical sciences and natural sciences, 4e secondary
June 13 and 14: French reading, 4e primary year
June 17: History of Quebec and Canada, 4e secondary
June 17, 18 and 19: French writing, 4e primary year
June 17, 18 and 19: Mathematics, 6e primary year
June 19: Science, 4e secondary
June 20: Mathematics, culture, society and technology, 4e secondary
Last day of class:
June 20 or 21according to CSS