According to data from Education Dashboardas of November 13, 2024, the Quebec school network was facing an alarming shortage of personnel: 1,461 teachers, 1,198 school educators, 749 special education technicians, 245 psychoeducators, 195 speech therapists, 173 psychologists, 85 remedial teachers and 71 counselors in orientation were missing.
This shortage occurs in a post-pandemic context marked by a considerable increase in the number of students, a worrying drop in the success rate of the fifth secondary French ministerial exam for the June 2024 session as well as a decrease in the rate of graduation and secondary school qualification after five years.
Indeed, the graduation and qualification rate fell from 77.1% in 2020-2021 to 68.1% in 2023-2024, a spectacular drop of nine percentage points. This situation has serious repercussions for a modern economy where a qualified workforce is crucial.
Actions to take
Young people leaving school without qualifications often find themselves confined to precarious, low-income jobs. This phenomenon exacerbates social inequalities, slows down innovation and economic growth, while increasing the burden on public finances.
Faced with this reality, the Quebec government cannot simply observe passively. Concrete and bold actions must be taken to counter this decline in academic success caused in part by a lack of personnel.
Firstly, it is essential to pay for internships in order to upgrade the teaching profession and that of other members of school staff. This measure will encourage more people to choose a career in teaching and encourage non-legally qualified teachers to undertake teaching certification programs.
Second, it is important that the Quebec government provide more funding to universities so that they can increase the size of cohorts in teaching programs, among other things. This will allow more professionals to be trained quickly.
Third, it is essential that more foreign students are enrolled in programs leading to high-demand jobs, such as those related to education, in order to meet the needs of our society.
The key
These are just a few measures among many others that will need to be implemented in order to improve long-term academic success by reducing the labor shortage affecting the school network.
Therefore, I invite the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, to apply them.
Obviously, this will require investing significant sums, but I would like to remind you that we cannot afford to neglect the education of our youth, because it is through this that the key to economic, social and culture of our nation.
Jessy Gareau
Graduated from the Mont-Laurier College Center in human sciences, substitute at CSSHL and student in secondary education at UQAT
