Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Elementary education students at the Université du Québec à Rimouski will no longer have to pass a math test to graduate. The test will be replaced by a compulsory mathematics course.
In Quebec, all aspiring teachers are subjected to a standardized French test to obtain their certificate, but not to a math test.
However, the University of Quebec at Rimouski (UQAR) required a mathematics entrance test for candidates for the baccalaureate in preschool education and in primary education.
Passing the test was not a condition for admission, but it was compulsory for access to the last course, in the fourth year of training. Students who did not achieve the 75% pass mark on their first attempt were required to take an extra-curricular math course and retake the test annually until they passed.
As many failures in math as in French
Like other universities before it, UQAR is now changing its approach. In 2021, the failure rate for the mathematics entrance test was 72%, according to data provided by the establishment. “It’s very comparable to passing the French diagnostic test,” notes Virginie Martel, director of the preschool and primary education module at UQAR.
More than half of the students who failed the exam the first time passed it on the second attempt.
Ultimately, less than 5% of students left the boat, never having passed the math test (and very often the French test as well).
Anxiety, growing among young people, may have been detrimental to student performance, observes Ms.me Hammer. One thing is certain, “it’s a shame when a student who is known to be very good does not go to the end for an administrative rule for taking the exam”.
As of the next school year, the exam will be replaced by a 45-hour mathematical knowledge course compulsory for all, which will be added to the four maths didactics courses of the training.
The goal? “To promote a positive relationship with mathematical knowledge and the importance of teaching it in primary school,” explains Ms.me Hammer.
“We continue to strongly support the idea of developing mathematical skills, but we want to do it differently, [avec] a compulsory course, where we will establish common bases for all students, rather than an exam that sometimes has consequences on graduation,” she adds.
Train before evaluating
If the poor French of future teachers regularly makes the headlines, the president of the Mathematical Association of Quebec, Frédéric Gourdeau, does not like to speak of “gaps” in math.
When they enter university, many aspiring teachers have not touched the discipline since high school. And very often, math was their pet peeve.
“There is a stigma, a mathematical anxiety,” notes Mr. Gourdeau, who is also a full professor in the department of mathematics and statistics at Université Laval.
The University of Montreal withdrew its math entrance test a long time ago. At the time, the method was considered “not very educational”, reports the dean of the faculty of education sciences, Pascale Lefrançois.
When they arrive in the first year, some students are rusty, others may have had certain shortcomings in their previous training. The main thing is that they are competent when they come out of training.
Pascale Lefrançois, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Montreal
Instead of the test, the establishment added a compulsory math course for all students in preschool and primary education, special education and teaching French as a second language.
In rare cases, a student who fails math twice – like any course, for that matter – is dropped from the program. “But most of them succeed,” says Ms.me The French.
“You have to work on affectivity in relation to math. It is also a human science. Maths is not made to be learned like a robot,” adds Frédéric Gourdeau.
The test deemed discriminatory in Ontario
In 2021, the Ontario government introduced a mandatory math test for aspiring teachers, hoping to improve their mediocre skills.
In December, however, the Superior Court invalidated the exam, on the basis that it discriminated against racialized candidates. In her decision, she highlighted the “significant disparities” between the success of white candidates and that of racialized candidates.
Barely 70% of black applicants had passed the test, compared to 90% of white students. The Court also noted that the success rate of French-speaking candidates was significantly lower than that of English-speaking candidates.
The Ontario government, which suggests the Court made legal errors, is now trying to appeal the decision.
“For any professional exam, there are tools to help people. But we had absolutely no resources. It became a source of stress and panic,” laments Bella Lewkowicz, one of the students who took the case to court.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BELLA LEWKOWICZ
Bella Lewkowicz, founding member of Ontario Teacher Candidates’ Council
Be careful, however, before comparing yourself with Ontario. In Quebec, students must complete four years of university studies in education. Ontario training lasts two years after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in a discipline other than teaching.
A number of players in the education sector in Ontario nevertheless criticize the approach chosen by their government… and look at what is being done here.
“Why doesn’t the Ontario government ask the Quebec Ministry of Education what it is doing? Clearly, their success should be a source of inspiration,” says Mme Lewkowicz.
Learn more
-
- 53%
- Success rate for the certification test in written French for teaching, compulsory for obtaining the teaching certificate, in 2016