Bill 23, which aims to reform governance in Quebec's education system, was approved last Thursday and gives the education minister new powers.
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Bernard Drainville will now have the power to appoint the general managers of school service centers in the province and overturn decisions he disagrees with.
Many people are concerned about these new powers that the Minister has granted himself.
“We may find ourselves in a system that we have already experienced, with pedagogical dogmas. We will tell teachers: “Here is the recipe, use it and everything will be fine,” says Brigitte Bilodeau, vice president of educational and professional records at the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ).
The bill aims to reform governance in the province's education system.
The government therefore intends:
-Improve access to data on the network: Students' school records will potentially be available online, eliminating the need to transfer them from one school to another.
-Establish the National Institute of Excellence in Education.
-Reorganization of the university council. The latter's mission will now be limited to the college and university level.
-Demand for further training of teachers.
This last point is particularly troubling to some parents and teachers.
“We may find ourselves in a system that we have already experienced, with pedagogical dogmas. We will tell teachers: “Here is the recipe, use it and everything will be fine,” says Brigitte Bilodeau, vice president of educational and professional records at the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ).
According to Simon Viviers, professor at Laval University, the minister's reform will have consequences.
“This bill centralizes powers – some would say excessively.” “We largely remove almost all the protections that would prevent the minister from making bad decisions,” he analyzes in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
“We are eliminating diversity in almost the entire education ecosystem,” he adds.
For his part, the education minister defended the merits of his reform.
“Thanks to this new law, we are improving the efficiency of the network. I am convinced that greater coherence between governance and the field, improved access to data and the creation of the National Institute of Excellence in Education will benefit the success of our young people,” he said in a press release.