Julie Dubois, director of Collège Sainte-Anne, a private high school in Lachine, is convinced that high schools must give themselves the mission of making adolescents happy. How ? By giving them a voice and offering innovative teaching methods. She presents her vision of a secondary school adapted to the needs of adolescents in a very inspiring essay, What if school made our teenagers happy?. Interview.
Q: What is the most important element that contributes to student well-being?
A: When we ask students, what makes them happy is the good relationships they have with their teachers. It’s fundamental. This is what marks most adolescents during their schooling: a good teacher who helped them, listened to them, captivated them, supported them. A passionate teacher, who knew how to bring the course content to life and who cares about the well-being of his students in a caring, inclusive school climate open to diversity.
Q: How do we captivate students?
A: We absolutely must change the way we teach. Everything goes through teaching methods, whether public or private. Do we want to transform the school? Do our children deserve better? Yes. Without a doubt. How do we do it? By creating a student council to listen to them and understand their needs, by adopting active pedagogy which places the student at the center of the action. A student who participates in the course by discussing, developing critical thinking, creativity and experimenting will be stimulated and motivated. We can no longer take our teenagers as simple recipients and pour out to them knowledge that they must learn by heart only to forget it immediately. You obviously have to go through the content, but there is a way to do it in an interesting way and it doesn’t involve cramming!
PHOTO MARTINE DOYON, PROVIDED BY EDITIONS CHÂTEAU D’ENCRE
Julie Dubois, director of Collège Sainte-Anne
Q: Is there this openness among secondary schools?
A: If we choose to work with human beings who are in full development, we have a duty to transform our practice for their well-being. The lack of pedagogical direction is an obstacle to the good development of our students. We are here to learn how to learn, we must develop this posture. For example, teachers who place themselves in the center of the classroom and place their students in the action become a coach of sorts. It will motivate them, which will be effective and stimulating. That’s another way of looking at things.
Q: Giving students a voice, why is this fundamental?
A: We learn so much by listening to our teenagers. By talking with them, we also make them aware of certain decisions. They share their concerns, their favorites, the courses they prefer, those they like less, the evaluations, the development of skills. It is very rewarding to take the time to listen to them, to give them a voice (through an educational council). I must also say that we do not train our teachers enough on the importance of understanding what kind of human beings they have in front of them, and to what extent emotions play a central role in cognitive processes. We must avoid hurtful, demeaning words and humiliating emotional situations.
Q: Do we talk enough about the importance of organizing school time?
A: At Collège Sainte-Anne de Dorval, which opened its doors in 2022, we took scientific studies into account and were able to arrange a schedule adapted to the circadian clock of young people. Knowing that for teenagers, the production of melatonin (the sleep hormone) begins at 10 p.m. and ends at 9 a.m. the next day, so the school day begins between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and continues until 4 p.m. h 20. Mathematics, French, science and social studies classes are held in the morning, because we know that it is in the morning that students are more able to work cognitively. In some secondary schools, there is a one-week break in the fall, at the beginning of November, because we know that it is better for the well-being of the students to have a real one-week break rather than to disperse educational days.
Q: Should we review our conception of success?
A: We need to review our values. We must raise awareness among parents who say they want to see their children happy… but who are opposed to their wishes. A career in science is not the only path to success. Their success is not defined by a choice of profession, but by the development of passions and curiosity, which teenagers cultivate. Academia is being challenged right now and that’s a good thing, because our teens are more than an academic score, more than an R rating. That doesn’t sum up who they are. Secondary school is not a long, quiet river, we come there to live an enriching experience.
What if school made our teenagers happy
Château d’ ink editions
128 pages