Published at 1:00 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
(Quebec) The shortage of qualified workers in the education sector does not only affect teachers. Data obtained by La Presse shows that more and more professionals dedicated to supporting students in difficulty, such as: B. special education teachers, psychologists and speech therapists leave the public school network. Locally, school leaders regret the fact that waiting lists for children to be assessed are getting longer, jeopardizing their academic success.
From year to year the number of positions to be filled for psychologists, speech therapists, daycare workers and special education teachers increases. Overall, their number rose from 1,076 in October 2022 to 1,996 at the same time this year.
“It should be noted that this data should be interpreted with caution as it is subject to change. In addition, when analyzing the results, it is necessary to take into account the variation in the response rate between the two years,” reminds the Ministry of Education, which provided this information at the request of La Presse.
In addition, there were still 157 psychoeducator positions to be filled in the public network last October. It is impossible to compare this number with the fall of 2022, as this Quebec data was only collected from January 2023.
Jacques Landry, president of the Federation of Education Professionals of Quebec (FPPE-CSQ), is not surprised that the shortage is accelerating.
The fewer soldiers there are to do the work, the less interesting the work becomes.
Jacques Landry, President of the FPPE-CSQ
Amid negotiations to renew its members’ collective agreement, he claims that the Legault government is practicing “willful blindness.”
“It is a system that is constantly deteriorating. The people there are really doing their best under the circumstances, but we don’t give them the tools. We throw in the towel instead of finding solutions,” he says.
“It’s a glaring problem”
The president of the Montreal Association of School Directors (AMDES), Kathleen Legault, reiterates that the lack of specialist educators in the network is particularly glaring.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESS ARCHIVE
Kathleen Legault
“It is a glaring problem and is becoming very distressing. All school administrators talk to me about it. These are people [essentielles] “On site, in class, on playgrounds, who practice prevention and act quickly in crisis situations,” she says.
School administrators are also struggling to keep these professionals who support students with learning difficulties in their jobs, as Quebec’s budget allocated to them is reassessed every year, which does not allow them to guarantee a high level of durability.
“When professionals feel like pawns every year and we question the fact that they can stay in our school, they leave public schools,” says Ms. Legault.
Turn your back on the public
This observation is also shared by Nicolas Prévost, President of the Fédération québécoise des Directions d’establishment d’enseignement (FQDE).
“Many working people switch to the private sector. “With the conditions of employment in the public sector, we are unable to come close to what these people can do in the private sector,” he claims.
According to him, it is once again students with special needs who are the first to feel the consequences of this career exodus. In some cases, the waiting period to be assessed can be one to two years.
“There are waiting lists in the intervention plans. […] We can’t provide the service because we don’t have people. We will distribute the skilled workers we have among the students. “It doesn’t help students and it wastes our resources,” he complains.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Nicolas Prévost, President of the Quebec Federation of Educational Institution Directors
When we start asking people on the ground to do the impossible, we end up with people leaving the network. We are trying to save the goat and the cabbage, but these are students who are left without services.
Nicolas Prévost, President of the FQDE
In 2018, the Commission on Human and Youth Rights (CDPDJ) recalled that “students with disabilities or adaptation or learning difficulties (HDAA) represent 24% of all students attending Quebec’s public school network.” [et] that this proportion rises to 34% when it comes to students enrolled in secondary school on the public network.
In June 2022, the Québec Ombudsman again recommended setting a minimum threshold for services to students because “professional staff in schools are not sufficient to meet needs” and “some students wait a long time before services are offered to them.”
Professional orders taken care of
After years of declining numbers of school psychologists in the province, the president of the Order of Psychologists of Quebec, Dr. Christine Grou, Alarm: “Primary and secondary school students are not being well looked after in terms of learning support and mental health care.” , that is clear. »
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Dr. Christine Grou
“There is a lack of different skilled workers. The children [ayant des difficultés d’apprentissage] need more support and assistance. When we look at the level of educational success, we see that students do not have what they need,” she notes.
In 2013, when there were 864,491 students in public schools in Quebec, 966 psychologists worked in the schools. Ten years later, in 2023, there are only 787 psychologists left out of 998,104 students in the public network. More students for fewer skilled workers.
In this context, psychologists and speech therapists limit themselves more than ever to making diagnoses and not to intervention in young people.
“It completely contradicts the role of psychologists in schools. They are not just limited to conducting assessments, but many also work across schools. “Sometimes I joke that psychologists work in their cars because they are always on the move,” says Dr. Grou.
Paul-André Gallant, president of the Order of Speech Therapists and Audiologists of Quebec, also regrets that “speech therapists will work at the beginning of their school career, [mais] The children are quickly left to fend for themselves, even if they have significant difficulties.”
“Once you’ve learned how to solve problems, if all you’re doing is putting out fires, it’s a little discouraging and you don’t want to stay,” he says.