Increasing the number of students per class to counter the lack of teachers and premises: this is one of the solutions called for by the Federation of School Service Centers to alleviate the “generalized shortage” of teachers in Quebec schools.
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The school service centers are asking the Legault government for “greater flexibility” for the creation of groups of students by authorizing them to seat two more students per class “in the environments where it would be necessary”, can we read in the Federation brief, written as part of the Legault government’s pre-budget consultations.
Teachers who have more students in front of them would be entitled to a special bonus and more services in class, specifies Dominique Robert, Deputy President and CEO of the Federation. “The goal is not to save money,” he says.
According to the calculations of the Federation, the addition of two students per group in all the classes of the province would make it possible to “recover” 3750 teachers. However, this is not a measure that would be used “wall to wall”, specifies Mr. Robert.
“There are service centers that are growing rapidly, where the pressure on staff and premises is very high right now,” he says. However, this measure would be less appropriate for smaller schools in the regions.
Mr. Robert recognizes that this temporary solution represents a “drastic measure”, which is however justified by the current “crisis situation” when the risks of service failures are very real.
The service centers also want Quebec to establish “more competitive salary scales” in order to curb the “exodus” of school staff, can we read in the brief.
Raising of shields among teachers
Unsurprisingly, this proposal does not pass on the side of the teachers’ unions, which are demanding precisely the opposite in the context of the negotiations in progress with the Legault government.
“Two more students per class, that can’t be a solution,” drops Josée Scalabrini, president of the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ).
“How does such a measure respond to our need to review the composition of the class? Congratulations for the promotion of the profession, ”she quips.
Additional services for students with difficulties “are already not there” in regular classes, so there is no reason to believe that they would be present for larger groups, adds Ms.me Scalabrini.
Same story of the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE). “It is not by increasing the number of students per class that we will convince teachers to stay in the school network or others who have left to come back,” says its president, Mélanie Hubert.
The teachers’ unions believe that the Legault government should above all tackle “the source” of the problem, by improving the working conditions of teachers.
At the Federation of Parents’ Committees of Quebec, it is indicated that it is necessary to take into consideration the interest of the students, the results of research on this subject as well as the solutions “already available to schools”, such as the pilot project aid to the class “that looks promising”.
This is not the first time that the increase in the number of students per class has been mentioned in the school network as a solution to the shortage of staff. The Quebec Association of School Executives had also proposed it as a solution in a notice submitted to the Ministry of Education in 2021.
Impact of increasing the number of students per class
- One more student: 1,950 teachers*
- Two more students: 3,750 teachers*
- *Number of teachers who would be “recovered” if the increase were applied to all classes in Quebec.
Source: Federation of School Service Centers of Quebec