Letter to Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, on Bill 23
It is with amazement that we learned of Bill 23 amending, in particular, the Education Act and the Act respecting the Superior Council of Education and enacting the Act respecting the National Institute of Excellence in Education. These amendments generate, and this is what matters to us here, major changes to the Act respecting the Superior Council of Education. It abolishes the Commission on preschool and elementary education, the Commission on secondary education and the Commission on adult education and continuing education. It abolishes the Table du Conseil, made up of the presidents of the commissions and representatives of various educational circles and civil society, the body responsible for adopting opinions and making recommendations to the Minister of Education.
We remind you that the Superior Council of Education stems from recommendation 27 of the Parent report, which defines its mission and the composition of its bodies. For nearly 60 years (1964), continuity has marked the life of this organization in fulfilling its mission of advising the State on the development of public policies in education. It has done so by producing opinions that are sometimes technical on amendments to the Education Act and educational regulations, sometimes more fundamental and bearing on the orientations and overall architecture of our education system, its relations between the levels of education, its current and future governance.
Its structures and its mode of operation give it its unique character that many countries envy. The legislator wanted to make it an organization of democratic participation. In fact, more than a hundred people from various levels of education and from civil society work on a voluntary basis in the commissions and at the Council Table in the development of opinions and reports submitted to the Minister of Education. They are assisted by a seasoned team of seasoned researchers. The Council thus plays a crucial role of organic liaison promoting interaction between research and the practices of the actors in the development of the recommendations submitted to the Minister and, consequently, between the Minister and civil society. In addition, the company also benefits from the work of the Board, which widely disseminates its studies and opinions and participates in public debates.
Strengthened by the responsibilities entrusted to us as Presidents of the Council over the past four decades, we believe it is our duty to intervene on Bill 23. This bill, if adopted as it stands, has the consequence of dismantling the Council and making it disappear, neither more nor less.
Why destroy a historic body which functions in accordance with the mission entrusted to it in 1964 and which, since then, has proved effective and respected in all educational circles and by all the Ministers of Education who preceded you? You will object that Bill 23 transfers the main function of the Council to the National Institute for Excellence in Education (INEE), since the latter may “advise the Minister on any matter relating to education and, to this end , report to it at least every two years on the state and needs of education”. Either. But the Superior Council of Education is more than its function. It is an institution of democratic participation in education, through its representative character of the Quebec population and its consultation practices. And it is this collective wealth that must be preserved. As for the creation of a National Institute of Excellence in Education, it is not for us to debate. The current Board of Governors will do so if it sees fit. He did so in 2017 in a memorandum to the then minister, Mr. Sébastien Proulx, where he proposed to amend the Act respecting the Superior Council of Education in order to create a permanent commission on research in education. and to give it the mandate to set up a center of excellence in education.
Finally, we remind you, the Ministry of Education and the Higher Council of Education constitute the two pillars of our education system. This is how the legislator designed it in 1964 by creating both institutions in the same law, the ” bill 60”. We see no reason today to dismantle what was wisely built almost 60 years ago. Reading articles 137 to 140 of the Parent report should convince you of this.
We are grateful to you, Mr. Minister, for paying attention to our questions and providing answers that can enlighten the education community and the Quebec population in general.