Quebec Comptroller Guylaine Leclerc on Thursday reiterated her deep concern about the impact of the shortage on children, particularly students with learning disabilities. Its findings echo the repeated warning signals from unions and experts contacted by La Presse in recent weeks.
Posted at 1:31 am. Updated at 5:00 p.m.
Josée Scalabrini, President of the Federation of Teachers’ Unions (FSE), put it straight to the point in an interview: In her opinion, the government lets children in difficulty “fall from the first year unless they are offered the services they need. ” “.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, ARCHIVE LA PRESSE
Josée Scalabrini, President of the Confederation of Educational Unions
Égide Royer, a psychologist and researcher specializing in academic difficulties – who, incidentally, listens closely to the Legault government – has been repeating himself for years: we must act early. Otherwise it will be too late and the educational success will be forgotten.
“The child fails in the 2nd year? This is his third year riding him and we hope he gets better. He failed sixth grade? They encourage him in high school. For this reason, many of them come to CEGEP because they need French lessons. [d’appoint] said Mr. Royer in an interview, without hiding his desperation.
If a 1st grader has significant reading disabilities, there’s no point pursuing the problem and hoping it gets fixed, he adds. In his opinion, miracles don’t happen often.
“Changing expectations”… down
Early action by establishing a kindergarten for four-year-olds was one of the Legault government’s key promises. In February, however, Education Minister Bernard Drainville was forced to admit that the goal of opening 2,600 kindergarten classes for four-year-olds by 2025-2026 was impossible.
How does the school system now deal with students in difficulty?
In recent months, La Presse has published various articles highlighting her journey. For example, Education Minister Bernard Drainville learned from the newspaper that students who had repeated a year in elementary school were not eligible to complete the sixth year of school, since elementary school (excluding kindergarten) had to be completed in six years.
In addition, from the 3rd year, students who fail (but without impairments) enter a regime of “expectation modification” – downwards, of course. For example, they receive only half the vocabulary they need to learn compared to their classmates, and their grades, adjusted for their lower learning ability, are excluded from the group average.
Until CEGEP
Katia Valcourt, teacher on the public network, summarizes the journey of students in difficulty. “A student who fails math or French in 6th grade ends up in a regular high school class. Since secondary school 1 and 2 form a cycle, there are no repetitions. […] If he still hasn’t passed, he can still complete the 3rd secondary level. »
Thereafter ? “Some students make it through to secondary school thanks to summer courses,” she continues. A student who has failed a French or maths course can repeat it in the summer when the requirements are often unsatisfactory. »
This is how young people with significant academic difficulties make it to CEGEP without necessarily doing well.
The Fédération des cégeps regularly calls for help to respond to the explosion in the number of students with special needs and to finance additional French courses. In January, the Fédération des cégeps also wrote in its report on the preliminary budgetary consultations that 66% of DEC students in Tremplin (those who were admitted to the Cégep without having all the knowledge of a secondary school) “do not graduate” from university studies after five years.
Some young people were not able to study at CEGEP due to too many obstacles. However, the fact is that many young people who fail a compulsory subject have great talents in other areas. A young dyslexic who is struggling to write properly could be a math expert. Or in computer science.
Don’t let the young people down
Bernard Tremblay, President of the Fédération des cégeps, advocates that no one escapes, especially at a time of severe labor shortages.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVE
Bernard Tremblay, President of the Federation of Cegeps
In an interview he recalls that when we noticed that the schools were in bad shape, we invested heavily to fix them.
Likewise, “you have to work twice as hard” to help the young person who has failed or “who regrets leaving school at 16 and ending up in the supermarket”.
Fix the system like we fix schools, huh? In a way yes, replies Mr Tremblay, saying the ideal will always be to be in preventive mode, not repair mode.
To read on Sunday in our context section: “What’s wrong with our children?” »