A week before the start of the school year, the school administration claims that the teacher shortage has worsened again this year and that the shortage of teachers is actually twice as high as that claimed by Education Minister Jean-François Roberge.
“It’s alarming,” says Carl Ouellet, president of the Quebec Association of School Management Staff (AQPDE).
“There aren’t many schools where all the positions are currently filled,” he adds. I think it’s worse than last year. We’re already on plans B, C and D and the year hasn’t even started yet.
Listen to Alexandre Dubé’s interview with Nicolas Prévost, President of the Quebec Federation of Educational Institution Directors, on QUB radio:
In most cases, 5 to 18% of the staff in the schools are missing, according to Mr Ouellet, according to echoes from his members.
Principals have even told him that they have to be in front of a group of students at the beginning of the school year because they can’t recruit enough teachers. “We did it,” says Mr. Ouellet.
Even in service centers, human resources departments lack the staff to recruit school staff, which creates a vicious circle, he adds.
The story is the same on the Quebec Federation of Educational Establishments Directors (FQDE) site. “The problem is increasing every year and this year is no different,” said President Nicolas Prévost.
The situation is even more critical in secondary education, where special education teachers for students with special needs are particularly difficult to find.
At the primary level, subject teachers of music or English are a rarity, while most positions are in the assistant ranks, where we are looking for subject teachers or childcare workers. .
- Listen to Yasmine Abdefadel’s interview with Marwah Rizqy, Official Opposition Critic on Education and Member of Parliament for Saint-Laurent for the Quebec Liberal Party, on Radio QUB:
For his part, Education Minister Jean-François Roberge indicated on Thursday that with less than two weeks to go before the start of the school year, the school network is still looking for 700 teachers to hire. However, this figure from August 15 is difficult to compare with previous years because the ministry did not collect this data at the time.
However, Mr Roberge wanted to reassure. “It’s a number that has to be taken with caution and pliers because it’s sure to improve over the next few days,” the minister told the Journal, confident that a teacher will start in every class this year school year.
- Listen to the interview fromAlexandre Dube with Jean-François Roberge, Minister of Education and MNA for Chambly for the Coalition Avenir Québec QUB radio:
Last year, in early September, 247 full-time apprenticeships were vacant, according to the Ministry of Education.
However, the figures announced by the minister yesterday only include full-time jobs and contracts, his cabinet later clarified, while the school network is also looking for hundreds of part-time teachers (see box).
- Listen to the interview with Marc-André Leclerc with Patrick Rankine, teacher, on QUB radio:
The number of teachers currently to be hired is therefore “at least twice as high” if you add the contracts and vacant part-time positions, affirm the AQPDE and the FQDE.
The teachers’ union federation also concludes that the true picture is “even more worrying” than the figures provided by the minister.
At the Montreal Association of School Principals, we believe that at the start of the school year it will be difficult to find a teacher for every class.
“What we don’t want is students who start the school year with substitute students who follow each other in class. We want to avoid that at all costs,” says President Kathleen Legault.
It also remains to be seen whether the people recruited will be competent. Prime Minister François Legault acknowledged on Thursday that the challenge is great.
“Unfortunately, at the beginning of the school year, there will again be people in the classes who don’t have the necessary training, but we have to take the time to educate people,” he said, highlighting the measures recently put in place to bring more teachers into the school network to win and keep.
– With the agency QMI.
NUMBER OF TEACHERS SEARCHED IN THE SCHOOL NETWORK: SOME EXAMPLES
- Beauce Etchemin
Full-time positions: none
Part-time positions or contracts: around 100 - Island Point (Montreal)
Full-time positions or contracts: 39
Part-time jobs or contracts: 43
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