The teacher shortage, already a concern for the school network, is likely to worsen over the next few years as more than 40% of permanent teachers could retire by 2030, it has been learned The newspaper.
This estimate has been made in recent months by Maurice Tardif, director of the Center for Interuniversity Research on Training and the Teaching Profession (CRIFPE), in collaboration with Geneviève Sirois, who is also part of it.
They analyzed the only data available to the Ministry of Education on teacher age groups, going back to 2015. With the average retirement age in Quebec being around 63, the researchers conclude that between 27,000 and 32,000 teachers will leave their classes by 2030, accounting for more than 40% of the permanent teachers in the Quebec school network (see box).
“It’s huge,” says Ms. Sirois.
That number doesn’t even take into account the 14,000 private school teachers or the impact of the pandemic, which has resulted in experienced teachers leaving their classrooms earlier than expected.
Navigate by sight
Although “imperfect”, these figures are the only ones available so far, says Ms Sirois.
The Ministry of Education has no figures on the subject, which according to this TÉLUQ professor is “completely absurd”. “How can we try to find solutions to a problem we don’t know about?” she asks.
In the absence of official figures, the researchers therefore tried to “gather the parts of the robot” and create a portrait “by holding them with sticky paper,” she illustrates.
In response to one of their requests for access to information, the Department of Education said it had no data on the number of early retirements over a decade among teachers, and instead asked them to contact each of the 72 school service centers on the issue.
Even more students
While there will be thousands of new education retirees by 2030, the number of students will continue to rise over this period. The ministry forecasts an increase of around 1%, a figure that does not take into account the creation of new 4-year kindergarten classes.
Ms Sirois also points out that the Department of Education’s demographic projections are “always” below actual increases, as immigration underestimates new students.
So the storm looks perfect and in several service centers it has already started. According to the latest available figures, Quebec schools are still short of 140 full-time teachers, not counting all other part-time vacancies. The number of non-legally qualified teachers has more than tripled in five years.
Recent initiatives by the Legault government to respond to the shortage appear to be having mixed results. La Presse reported last week that of the 6,000 applications received as part of the Reply Now recruitment campaign, only 600 had been hired as teachers as of September 2.
With the increasing number of teenagers who will pass through the doors of schools in the next few years, “the national emergency” will be felt especially in the secondary school, specifies Ms. Sirois.
Retirement of teachers by 2030
At elementary school
At college
In total
total number of teachers in the school network
* Permanent teachers in the public network – pre-school, primary and secondary – as well as adult vocational and general education.
Source: Maurice Tardif, updated data in collaboration with Geneviève Sirois from the Center for Interuniversity Research on Training and the Teacher Profession (CRIFPE).
Which solutions?
The journal spoke to experts and stakeholders in the education network in search of solutions to the teacher shortage.
Facilitate the attendance of future teachers in class
Several stakeholders agree that university education needs to be adapted to allow future teachers to teach during their education. The Quebec Federation of Educational Establishment Directors even requires a student to be able to teach full-time in the school network after completing two out of a total of four years of their high school diploma. However, the future teacher should be looked after in the same way as during his internship, so that the hours worked are counted towards his training. The theoretical courses to be completed can be completed in the evenings, at the weekend or during a summer semester. Measures have already been taken in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and on the north coast to allow students to study part-time while working in schools with students.
Even more care
In recent years, a mentoring program for new teachers has been set up, so that fewer of them leave the class in the first years of the apprenticeship. However, the $5 million spent annually is just a “sprinkle,” the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) laments. According to teachers’ unions, there will likely be many more experienced teachers mentoring new or unskilled teachers. In addition, school service centers should be more flexible about this, says Mélanie Hubert, President of the FAE. Several experienced teachers have retired after being refused part-time work, she laments.
leave her teach teachers
According to the Federation of Education Unions (FSE-CSQ), several teachers would like to be relieved of bureaucratic or related tasks in order to have more time for teaching. Local initiatives would benefit from the facility, so teachers spend less time supervising or dealing with various committees, says the president, Josée Scalabrini. In this way, teaching times could be freed up, especially at secondary level. However, it remains to find the staff to complete the other tasks.
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