Back to school: more than 4000 missing teachers positions

Just over 4000 teachers’ positions remain to be filled by the start of the school year, the Minister of Education said on Thursday, Bernard Drainville, adding that 96 % of the positions have already been filled. A situation deemed “encouraging” by unions, which await data concerning professionals and support staff.

According to the most recent government figures (new window)4,115 positions are always without holder in primary and secondary, including more than half (2976) part -time.

This is good news for students first, for their parents and of course for school teamslaunched the Caquist Minister before the journalists, recognizing that there is still work to do and that it is not in magical thought.

It is still an improvement compared to the last two years, he congratulated himself. At such a date last year, 5,704 teachers were missing, with 94 % of the positions provided by school service centers (CSS). In 2023, this proportion was 90 %, for a total of 8,558 missing teachers.

That said, the alarming data of two years ago had released before the teachers’ assignment process started. The number of posts to be filled had dropped to 1810 two weeks later.

This year, this process must be carried out before August 8, as Quebec asked, which explains the more positive assessment, argued Minister Drainville.

Spending figures

The portrait presented by the government is however incomplete: it does not include data concerning the number of missing positions for support staff, such as special education technicians, and professional staff, such as speech therapists and psychoeducators. These figures will be available at the end of August, Minister Drainville said.

Considering that there was already a big lack of this essential staff with our young people, it is worrying. These figures, I wait for them with a little more apprehensionreacts in an interview the president of the Federation of Parents of Quebec Parents, Mélanie Laviolette.

We have more and more children with special needs in our classes. These staff are essential, not only to the learning of our young people, but also to maintain proper functioning in the class and support teachersshe adds.

Ms. Laviolette still judges encouraging The fact that 96 % of teachers have already been filled. It’s a step in the right directionabounds the president of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE), Mélanie Hubert. Remains to be seen whether the school service centers will be able to keep By September, so that each class has its teacher. And qualified personnel, ideallyshe said.

With or without patent

Quebec is unaware for the moment the proportion of non -legally qualified teachers who will soon welcome primary and secondary students in the classes. This data will be available Somewhere in the fall since he must let the start of the school yearargued Bernard Drainville.

According to the Minister’s projections, around one in ten teachers will not have the teaching certificate. I still insist on the fact that, among those who have no patent, at least half have a baccalaureatehe noted, often obtained in the matter they teach like history or chemistry.

As a reminder, the Legault government has softened in recent months the rules that supervise the status of legally qualified teacher. He has indeed, three times, withdrawn from constraints temporarily or permanently to facilitate the obtaining of a provisional authorization to teach.

From now on, a person can ask for it if they are enrolled in one of the new short programs of 30 teaching credits with a baccalaureate in your pocket and if they have a promise to hire a CSS. For people who want to get a secondary position, their baccalaureate must be related to the material they wish to teach.

We, what we want is to accompany them towards the patent, insisted Minister Drainville. This is why we asked the universities to create short training of 30 credits to allow teachers to seek their training in pedagogy.

Other details will follow.