Despite significant salary increases, educators in Quebec’s childcare services are still under-performing, while more than 4,000 are missing this year “to ensure the sustainability of the network and to support the development of places,” claims the Department of Family Affairs.
• Also read: Day care: educators from mother to daughter
• Also read: Recruitment Abroad: A CPE of the islands receives 1000 CVs from Morocco
According to Le Journal, there will be a total shortage of 4,076 educators in the various childcare facilities for 2022-2023.
However, the government “preliminarily” estimates that 2,766 recruitments were made in the first quarter of 2022-2023.
Of these, 97 educators were recruited from abroad. However, it is impossible to know if these educators currently exist.
Either way, the government wants to hire 18,000 new educators by March 31, 2026.
No improvement
According to the educators’ unions, the shortage of staff is still blatant and has “not improved” since the most recent increases, especially in salaries.
“We have stabilized the workforce to some extent, but we have not recruited on a large scale,” says Lucie Longchamps, vice-president of the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux, which is part of the CSN.
“When positions are advertised, they are not filled. There are many CPE constructions, but some cannot be opened due to lack of staff. Basically, jobs are created, but no one fills them,” laments Stéphanie Vachon, representative of the CPE sector at the Confederation of Health and Social Services (FSSS-CSN).
According to the Federation of Early Childhood Workers of Quebec (FIPEQ-CSQ), the job vacancy rate has ranged from 13% to 15% since last September, while it was 6% in 2018-2019.
evaluation of the profession
The trade unions also point out the lack of training for many new employees. “People with little education come into the industry but don’t stay. They quickly feel ill-equipped and exhausted,” says Valérie Grenon, President of FIPEQ.
The government will also invest $1 million this year in a major publicity campaign aimed at promoting the teaching profession and encouraging young people to study child education.
Several financial incentives have already been put in place to encourage the training of educators but these are not bringing the expected results, Ms Longchamps regrets.
Currently, the ministry states that 701 projects are underway to create 30,240 new places, whether for the construction of a new CPE or the modernization of an existing facility.
On August 30, 33,356 children were still waiting for a daycare place.
Do you have any information about this story that you would like to share with us?
Do you have a scoop that might be of interest to our readers?