This text is part of the special section Higher Education
By 2025, Quebec wants to offer four-year-old kindergarten in all its schools. To do this, it will have to open 2,600 new classes, which will create an increased demand for teachers specializing in preschool education. A new program will be offered at UQAM as of September 2022 to meet the professional development needs of teachers who wish to move into kindergarten classes.
“There is currently a scientific consensus on the influence of the quality of educational services on child development,” notes Élaine Turgeon, professor in the Department of Didactics at UQAM. One of the key factors in ensuring the quality of early childhood education services is staff training. »
Currently, to teach kindergarten, one must obtain a bachelor’s degree in preschool education and elementary education.
“During their training, prospective Kindergarten 4- and 5-year-old teachers are offered very few college credits specifically focused on preschool education and are primarily trained for primary education with 6- to 12-year-old students. The training of preschool teachers begins during initial training, but must also continue beyond that. Currently, there is no university training of 2and cycle specifically devoted to preschool education in the greater Montreal area to meet these specific needs. »
The new program was developed by a team of professors with varied expertise from different departments at UQAM.
Structure and content of the program
This short program will count 18 credits and can be done in two years of part-time studies, in the evening, leading to an attestation of second cycle studies in preschool education. It will be offered in hybrid mode: four courses will be given face-to-face and two courses will be offered remotely. Some sessions of the courses offered face-to-face could be given remotely, as needed.
It will be accessible to people who already hold a teaching certificate and who will therefore have already completed university training in teaching. In addition to supporting the professional development of teachers who wish to perfect their training on the needs of 4- and 5-year-old children, it will focus on the particularities of the Montreal environment.
“This program differs from those already existing in other universities in that it is at the second cycle and that it takes into account the specificity of the Montreal school environment, which has the highest concentration of families living below the threshold of poverty in Quebec and whose proportion of children of immigrant origin is increasing year after year, which distinguishes it from other regions of Quebec, explains Élaine Turgeon. Particular attention will be paid to intervention in underprivileged environments and in multi-ethnic and multilingual environments. »
The new program’s course offering is based on a survey of 338 teachers working in 13 school service centers in the greater Montreal area. This is a course made up of two compulsory courses and four elective courses.
“The two compulsory courses are accompanied practice courses, that is to say that they will allow teachers to integrate into their teaching practice the learning acquired during the elective courses,” explains Élaine Turgeon. The elective courses focus on themes such as the motor, cognitive, socioaffective or language development of children aged four and five, preschool education in the context of linguistic, ethnocultural and social diversity, classroom management, prevention of and support for educational quality in preschool education. »
If we believe the first reactions on social media following the announcement of this new offer for the fall, the program is likely to attract a significant number of people. It should be noted, however, that the program is not eligible for the new Perspectives Québec scholarships announced by the government last November, since these only concern college technical programs and undergraduate university programs.
Applications for admission must be made before 1er April 2022. For now, only two groups of 20 students will be admitted each year.