After a strike lasting several days, teachers return to work and are looking forward to meeting their students again, but are worried about the lack of clear instructions from the ministry.
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This is particularly true for Julie-Caroline Dumont, a kindergarten teacher in the Quebec region and member of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE).
“We have not yet received any information from our management about returning to class,” she complains, pointing out that some teachers no longer even had access to their emails because their password expired within the 22 days .
“But we’re in it. [le retour]“We can’t wait,” adds Ms. Dumont. “We’re going to take it day by day, even hour by hour.”
For his part, Samuel Tremblay, a high school science and robotics teacher also affiliated with the FAE, assures that his school administration is working well with him, but explains that the shadow that hangs over this return is the lack of broad lines from Quebec.
Because if teachers use an education day on Monday to prepare for this return to the classroom, the government will not announce its official plan until Tuesday.
Teachers affiliated with the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) went on strike for 22 days. Photo agency QMI, JOEL LEMAY
“Are we doing this planning for nothing? Are we preparing something that does not correspond to reality?” asks Samuel Tremblay, who nevertheless believes that the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic “alleviates a little” the stress of this return.
“Teacher, we are very creative. At 10 under we can do it easily, so we bet on it,” agrees teacher Jean-Philippe Bergeron on LCN’s broadcast.
A suitable offer?
Julie-Caroline Dumont believes that the post-strike return is even less well organized than the post-pandemic return, so the learning gaps between different groups of students could be “larger”.
The teacher, who decided to make deliveries for DoorDash during the indefinite general strike, is confident that the agreement in principle concluded by the FAE with the government will be of interest to union members.
“The union always said they wouldn’t sign at a discount,” she notes. “I just hope they weren’t pressured to do anything because the Common Front also came to an agreement.”
Samuel Tremblay, for his part, considers the process of analyzing the offer by several committees before passing it on to members to be “very serious”.
“Whether this is the perfect agreement we would like is probably not the case, but I hope it is a step in the right direction and will resolve many annoyances,” he concludes.