Universities are rejecting Education Minister Bernard Drainville’s request for a delay so that future teachers who fail the French test are not held back in their training.
• Also read: Teacher Shortage: A reprieve for prospective teachers with weak French requested by Drainville
• Also read: The torture of the French exam for prospective teachers
Currently, students are required to pass the French Written Certification Test for Teaching (TECFÉE) before their third internship, which usually takes place in the third year of their four-year undergraduate degree.
The requirement to pass this exam at the end of training, as requested by Minister Drainville in the face of the shortage of teachers, “is not a solution”, affirms Jean Bélanger, president of the association that brings together the deans of the faculties of education in Québec.
“It would rather create new problems,” he says.
Depending on the university, 5 to 18% of students have to postpone their third internship because they failed the TECFÉE, a “relatively small” number according to the Dean of UQAM.
During the pandemic, students were exceptionally able to complete their third internship without passing the exam. However, 20% of them still haven’t reached the pass mark, which prevents them from earning their teaching diploma. Once the training is complete, it becomes even more difficult for them to get it, says Mr. Bélanger.
“We’re not doing them any favors, that’s clear. For us, the key is really the upstream support to get students to take the exam during their studies,” he says.
The universities must “contribute to solutions” in order to help the school environment to overcome the shortage of teachers, but that is not the right way, adds the Dean.
Minister Drainville recently called on universities to take an “exceptional measure” to postpone the mandatory TECFÉE success at the end of the course and no longer before the third internship.
In recent weeks, student teachers have mobilized to demand changes to the conditions of this French exam, the content of which they also criticize.
Pupils resent being held back in their education when, due to shortages, schools are hiring a record number of non-legal teachers without having to pass the French exam.
At the time of writing, it has not yet been possible to obtain an opinion on the matter from the Office of the Minister for Education, Bernard Drainville.
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