School closures due to strikes planned for next week will disadvantage thousands of students, especially those in difficulty or at risk of dropping out, a representative of parents’ committees regrets.
• Also read: A “historic” teachers’ strike that could last a long time
• Also read: Unlimited education strike: Parents prepare for real headaches
Starting Tuesday, all public elementary and secondary schools in Quebec will be closed for three days as school staff affiliated with the Common Front will strike on November 21, 22 and 23.
However, there is a risk that the forced leave for thousands of students will be extended as teachers affiliated to the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) will launch an indefinite general strike from Thursday November 23rd unless there is an agreement with Quebec.
The FAE represents more than 40% of the province’s teachers in the Montreal, Quebec, Outaouais, Estrie, Montérégie and Laurentides regions.
- Listen to the interview with Luc Papineau, high school French teacher, on Alexandre Dubé’s show QUB radio:
Students punished
Aside from the headache for parents, this strike will, above all, have a very real impact on students’ learning, regrets Sylvain Martel, spokesman for the Regroupement des Committees de Parents Nationaux du Québec.
“We forget that we are harming their school year. “It doesn’t take three months to cancel a school year for a young person who is in trouble,” he says, concerned that the Legault government repeats that it wants to reach an agreement “before Christmas.”
Recent school closures due to lockdowns have also shown that “missing days of schooling is not good for students”, while many young people have not yet managed to catch up with school delays caused by the pandemic, emphasizes Mr Martel, who nevertheless wants to make it clear that he does not question the teachers’ right to strike in any way.
He also notes that the effects are even greater in specialist classes, where the everyday life of students with special needs is completely disrupted.
Parents should not expect their children to come home with a backpack full of work during this forced leave, but this decision is ultimately within the autonomy of each teacher, the union states.
Is there a risk of termination?
The strike, particularly if it continues on the FAE side, could also push young people “on the verge of dropping out” to find jobs, which could jeopardize their return to school after the conflict ends, it adds M. Martel added.
“We don’t know how long the young person in secondary 5 who is in trouble and will no longer go to school because of the strike… will he return there, to school?”
On the union side, we have been repeating for weeks that teachers are out of breath and fighting above all to achieve better learning conditions for their students.
“Yes, the teachers are fighting to make things better in the long term. But for those who are here now and find it difficult to motivate themselves, things won’t be any better. “It cuts your legs,” says Sylvain Martel.
Without wanting to get involved in the conflict, he calls on the two parties to reach an agreement quickly: “We have to find a solution quickly.” The speeches we are currently hearing are worrying. Education is our priority, but we tend to compromise student success at the expense of negotiation strategies.”
However, the government would be in a poor position to tell teachers that they are putting students’ learning at risk, counters secondary school teacher Luc Papineau.
“There have been no additional measures to support young people since the pandemic returned. […] We care about student learning. We have been doing this for two years to catch up with the pandemic. […] But we are at a turning point in the negotiations, people are very shocked and ready to go all the way,” he said in an interview with QUB Radio on Wednesday.
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