After TÉLUQ, it is the turn of the Université de Sherbrooke to announce training adapted for non-legally qualified teachers who currently work in school service centres.
The Université de Sherbrooke is thus announcing a 15-credit microprogram, as well as a 30-credit certificate aimed at those who already teach in a school service center without having a patent.
The “PROF course” of the Université de Sherbrooke is intended for those who meet the admission criteria for a bachelor’s degree and who therefore hold a diploma of college studies. Barring exceptions, they must have completed two contracts of at least 40% of teaching work.
The initiatives of TÉLUQ and the University of Sherbrooke, although different in certain respects, are supported by the Ministry of Education, in the context of the teacher shortage.
The shortage has meant that school service centers have had to hire teachers who are not legally qualified.
This training is therefore intended to provide them with support, to better equip them if they wish to pursue their career in the field of education.
“It is not a shortened training, because firstly, for the moment, it is only professionalizing. We do not claim a patent of 30 credits. This is a first step in the right direction. This program is to support people who are currently contributing in schools and ensuring that children can access their education, “explained Nancy Granger, vice-dean of continuing education and graduate studies at the University of Sherbrooke.
She assures us that she does not want to “cannibalize” the other programs of the university and that this does not call into question the relevance of the baccalaureate and the patent. “It’s in complementarity, not in competition. Several paths are possible in life to address complex problems,” says Ms.me Granger.
The new training will begin in June and the university hopes to attract 240 candidates.
“A Bad Signal”
The announcement, however, cringe teachers’ unions. Thus, the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) fears training at a discount, which will mean that people interested in teaching will no longer really have any interest in completing four years of university to obtain their certificate.
“We are currently sending the message to all our young people who are in the teaching baccalaureate: “You are wasting your time, you could be teaching, collecting a salary […] and, after that, do shorter training, where we will leave it a little easier for you, ”lamented Mélanie Hubert, president of the FAE, in an interview.
“It’s a bad signal for the quality of education we want to offer our students in Quebec,” criticizes M.me Hubert.
The union leader says she understands that it is necessary to support, to accompany those who currently teach and who do not have the required qualifications, but she sees in these adapted training courses “a leveling down”.
She also points out that “teachers who are unqualified at the moment, as soon as they have what is called a commitment tolerance – it is a tolerance that we give them, even if they are not qualified , to give them a contract all the same – they embark on the same salary scale as the rest of the teachers in Quebec”.