There is an “urgent need” to act to review the supervision of continuing education in Quebec and facilitate access to it, at a time when the province’s economy is experiencing significant metamorphoses, insists the Fédération des cégeps in a report including The duty has obtained a copy under embargo.
“Whether from a demographic, ecological or technological point of view, the transitions that we are called to experience have and will have consequences on the enhancement and maintenance over time of the skills of the workforce,” notes an opinion of 39 pages that the Fédération des cégeps submitted to the Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity.
The organization, which receives the support of the Office of Interuniversity Cooperation and the Federation of School Service Centers of Quebec in its approach, thus describes the “urgency” to reform Quebec legislation surrounding continuing training at work.
Since 1995, the Act on the development and recognition of workforce skills requires some businesses in the province to invest an amount equivalent to at least 1% of their payroll in the training and skills development of their staff. Since then, the Act has undergone several relaxations, to the point where it currently only applies to companies with a payroll of more than two million dollars. It now only concerns a little more than half of the province’s workers, while 85% of the province’s employees had access in 2005 to training offered by companies or higher education establishments, notes the report. the Federation of CEGEPs.
She therefore reports a “decline in job training” in the province.
“In Quebec, we have a system to support training which, clearly, does not meet the current needs of our economy,” said the president and CEO of the Fédération des cégeps, Bernard Tremblay, in an interview. In this context, “a change of direction” is necessary, he pleads.
Inequalities and failures
The document also notes inequalities in workers’ access to this training. “Smaller companies and low-skilled workers have more training needs and generally use it less,” the document underlines. However, this training is essential to make the workforce more productive, at a time when the job market is evolving rapidly with new technologies, underlines Mr. Tremblay.
“We can do all the innovation in the world, if we don’t have people to take over, to apply this innovation, well, it’s going to stay on the shelves and it’s going to be other countries that are going to benefit from it,” he says.
Employees who wish to follow this training part-time and acquire new knowledge related to their job while continuing to work full-time are also penalized by the financial assistance programs currently offered by Quebec, notes the report. The document also highlights that the least educated employees are also those who have the least access to this training: “The people who are on the floor, if we want, we tend to neglect them a little,” laments Bernard Tremblay.
“So, obviously, we are faced with something that is not suitable for career transitions, something that is not suitable for enhancing skills and developing new skills,” he continues, in reference to the current framework for continuing education in Quebec.
The Fédération des cégeps is therefore calling for a legislative review to facilitate access to continuing training linked to employment, “so as to enhance the skills of their entire Quebec workforce”. The latter at the same time urges Quebec to better regulate “the evaluation of the quality of the training that is offered” in the province. Because, currently, several “candy” training courses – which do not really have the effect of improving the skills of employees – are offered by companies which simply wish to meet the legislative requirements imposed by Quebec, slips Mr. Tremblay.
“In 2024, attesting to training simply by an act of presence, in my opinion, no longer works,” says Bernard Tremblay. “What we need is structured training that allows us to attest to the acquisition of skills,” he concludes.