Back to school | Back to school at Cégep: with or without parents?

The secondary transition to college can be experienced as a shock for some students. Therefore, CEGEPS suits parents to a meeting to facilitate this change. Moreover, Do students lack autonomy? However, We asked the question.

Posted at 6:30 a.m.

Last June. Meanwhile, Pascale Bourgeois, lecturer in the Department of Education and Pedagogy of the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), wrote in the dialogue section of The press that the young people who entered Cégep were too infantilized.

She was invited to an information meeting intended for new students from Cégep. However, their parents, and she asked herself many questions: isn’t back school | back school it time for young people to take autonomy and independence … However, without their parents? Moreover, Does the entry to CEGEP not mark a break with childhood? For example, Will parents accompany their children at the start of the school year at Cégep? Consequently, At university? Nevertheless, Help them find their premises?

Line Légaré, director of communications at the college of Maisonneuve, indicates that meetings for parents and back school | back school new students have existed for at least 20 years. For example, Its objective is to answer questions from students and parents, and to facilitate the secondary-collegeal transition. However, “Parents are in large numbers. Consequently, There were 712 registered in the meeting last June. Furthermore, We can no longer organize these face -to -face meetings, because we have no fairly large premises. Moreover, They are online, ”she says.

She specifies that among the students. Furthermore, some of their parents have not studied in Quebec and do not know what the college studies consist. Meanwhile, “They are informed about student services. Meanwhile, resources in case of difficulty by telling them that it is the students who must now take the lead if they need help. However, There is also talk of the R -and the election of parents on the board of directors. Similarly, »»

Information meetings exist in particular at Cégep de Jonquière. at Cégep du Vieux Montréal, Cégep de Saint-Laurent, Cégep de Saint-Jérôme, Cégep de Lévis and André-Grasset college.

“Parents’ involvement is essential to the academic success of students in primary. secondary,” recalls Noémi Cantin, professor and manager of the professional skills development program at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières (UQTR). “Parents also have a role to play at Cégep, that of supporting their children, helping them, encouraging them. It all depends on the students. Some manage on their own at the end of secondary school, others need to be supervised. The transition to CEGEP can be brutal for some students. »»

Back school | back school

The importance of being responsible

Victoria Alcindor, 18, enters the university in September. She was 16 when she started back school | back school Cégep, in the natural sciences, and remembers the great change she has experienced. “I didn’t know anyone at Cégep,” she says. At first, it’s a bit intimidating, but very quickly, I made a circle of friends. »»

An opinion shared by Julien Agoston, 18, who begins his third session in human sciences at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit. He considers himself very independent and independent and was very well integrated into CEGEP thanks to sport. “With volleyball. secondary, I had training and matches at Cégep, so I already knew some students who helped me when I arrived. But it can be difficult if you don’t know anyone. At Cégep. you really have to take charge and be vigilant, from the first session, otherwise the grades can drop very quickly, ”he says. His advice: the transition should be made from the secondary fifth. Parents should let their children manage.

Supervision deemed necessary

Noémi Cantin nevertheless observes changes in students’ behavior. For example. 15 years ago, she gave her first -year students open work to do, telling them the objective of work, but leaving them to structure it. What she is no longer doing today. “We cannot destabilize them, not in the first year. Students need more supervision. you have to tell them exactly what is expected of them and not leave them too much freedom, they don’t like it! »»

She wonders: is this a lack of autonomy? Have they not sufficiently developed this competence?

Pascale Bourgeois believes that education becomes a space where priority is no longer the education and confrontation of ideas, but the well-being of students in a benevolent climate, where they are constantly validated, even mothered, even at university. “We help students carry out teamwork because they feel anxious to team up with people they don’t back school | back school know!” We’re here! »»

Professor holder of social work at the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi (UQAC). Additionally, Ève Pouliot thinks that it is not necessary to generalize, that it is not the set of students who lack autonomy. She herself did not go to the information meeting when her son entered Cégep. “The fact that parents support young people is positive. I would be worried about seeing young people who have no support and who reconcile family, school and professional responsibilities. There are still a lot of iniquities in the school system. young people do not all come with the same achievements and do not have the same aid resources. It is a danger of infantilizing children too much, but do not generalize excessively. It depends on the temperaments of children. »»