Unable to quickly offer support services to students with adjustment or learning difficulties, elementary schools in Quebec are directing their parents to the private sector, observes the Québec Ombudsman.
The lack of funding and human resources compromises the service offer, he says in a special report made public on Monday.
The investigation by the Ombudsman, Marc-André Dowd, and his team began in 2019. It is based on interviews with 830 parents of students with adjustment or learning difficulties and 827 staff members educators who offer services to their children, such as remedial teachers and special educators.
In his report, the protector draws up the “disturbing” observation that 39% of parents have been invited by school administrators to have their child assessed privately, given the long delays in the public network. In total, the survey found, 42% had to pay for private services, which is presented as a “worrying” fact.
“There is an issue of equity because having recourse to private services, there are people who do not have the means,” said Mr. Dowd during a press conference at the National Assembly. .
Recourse to the private sector also has limits since the evaluation is done outside the school context.
“The recommendations that could be made [dans une évaluation au privé] are not necessarily aligned with what the school community could or should implement to help the child succeed,” he said.
Eight months and more of waiting
The delays measured by the survey show that most students with difficulties have to wait eight months or more, in 38% of cases, before obtaining an assessment of their needs. Added to this are delays in obtaining services, which are more than five months in 36% of cases.
Although it obliges the Ministère de l’Éducation du Québec (MEQ) to provide these services free of charge, the Education Act does not set any deadline for obtaining them. And once they’ve been obtained, there’s no guarantee they’ll be enough, Mr Dowd said.
“It also happens that services are not given with the necessary frequency and intensity,” he said.
The lack of resources and funding also means that services are given priority to children who are failing at school.
“Achieving the passing grade is not a scale for concluding that a child does not have or no longer has adjustment or learning difficulties,” said Mr. Dowd. In some cases, services simply ceased when the child received the passing grade, while the needs were still there. »
Flawed funding model
According to the report, the MEQ does not know how many positions for remedial teachers and specialized educators must be specifically filled in Quebec schools. The last evaluation made by the ministry in the fall of 2020 placed the number of vacant positions in service centers and school boards at 493.
The most requested positions were those of psychologist, psychoeducator and speech therapist.
The Québec Ombudsman also observes that the professionals providing services to students in difficulty continue to be overwhelmed with paperwork, despite a commitment from the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge. In 2020, Mr. Roberge had promised to relieve them of this burden.
According to the report, the “quality assurance” process imposed by the MEQ to justify the budgets paid for students in difficulty continues to rest on the shoulders of the staff who exempt them.
“When we are in accountability, we are not providing services, we are not evaluating children, we are not providing services,” noted Ms. .Dowd.
Minister Roberge’s office said Monday that the current model for funding special education services is flawed. As early as 2020, the Minister suspended the quality assurance process and withdrew it definitively in 2021.
A new model is to be introduced in 2023, said press officer Florent Tanlet.
“It is estimated that the new model will free up 375,000 hours of bureaucracy for direct student services,” he said in a written statement.