If there is good news to remember from the reform of school governance presented by Bernard Drainville, it is the creation of a National Institute of Excellence in Education (INEE).
In our classrooms as elsewhere, science must be the gold standard for establishing best practices, there is no doubt.
However, the creation of the INEE, which has long been called for by many experts, has not found favor in the education community, judging by the reaction of the unions, who call the initiative “false good idea “.
In their opinion, it would be preferable to rely on organizations that already do research in education rather than adding a new structure that risks calling into question the autonomy of teachers with a “wall to wall” approach.
These fears are unfounded.
Let’s first say that the INEE is inspired by the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services (INESSS), which acts as a beacon to shed light on the practices of the medical community.
Since its creation in 2011, have we heard physicians complain that INESSS was undermining their independence? No ! On the contrary, the information that physicians draw from INESSS allows them to stay at the cutting edge of research, which does not prevent them from adapting treatments according to the needs of their patients.
The INEE will therefore play the same role in the educational environment at the preschool, primary and secondary level, as detailed in Bill 23 tabled by the Minister of Education on Thursday.
In fact, the Institute will synthesize scientific knowledge on student success, identify best practices, develop recommendations and promote their application through practical training.
Oh: training! This is a word that creates tension among teachers.
In 2021, the unions fiercely fought against the addition of 30 hours of mandatory training to the two years imposed on them by Bill 40 of former Minister Jean-François Roberge.
“Masters of our formation”, they proclaimed. It is surprising to say the least that people whose profession is to teach are opposed to training for themselves.
But back to INEE.
Of course, there are other organizations dedicated to research on academic success in Quebec. As there are many health research centers, which does not detract from the relevance of INESSS.
It will be the same for the INEE in education, as long as we leave power struggles in the locker room and work in complementarity.
The important thing is that INEE is autonomous and independent. That it is based on science to protect the education network from teaching methods that have sometimes led to excesses.
Remember the Pedagogical Renewal of the early 2000s which relied on the skills-based approach, emanating from “socio-constructivism”. Afterwards, studies showed that this reform had done more harm than good to young people in difficulty, the very people we wanted to help.
Today, there are 235,000 students in difficulty in our primary and secondary schools, compared to 103,000 twenty years ago. This increase of almost 130% is a hard acknowledgment of failure for the network.
INEE is not a silver bullet. He won’t magically spawn staff to help out-of-breath professors. But it is a tool that will comb through all that is good to improve academic success, here as elsewhere.
How to improve language learning?
How to tackle the anxiety problems that now affect 21% of young people in secondary school, especially girls?
How to reduce the achievement gap between advantaged young people and those who are not, between girls and boys?
Challenges are not lacking. INEE is part of the solution, not part of the problem. No need to be afraid of it.