In order to improve success at CEGEP, the content of French and philosophy courses at CEGEP should be “updated,” says the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, who does not, however, foresee any major upheavals in general education. collegial in light of the recommendations of a working group which looked into the issue.
“General education is important, general education is here to stay. Now, we must update the courses and promote this training so that students have the desire to succeed in these courses. Therein lies the challenge. (…) We have to make it more attractive,” said the minister, in an interview with Newspaper.
Low success rate
While approximately one in five students fail their first philosophy or French course upon arrival at CEGEP, the working group mandated by Quebec to look into the success of these two courses – also called “challenge courses” due to of their low success rate – submitted its report on June 30, 2023.
Almost a year later, The newspaper was finally able to consult it while the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, must make it public today.
The working group, made up of teachers and educational advisors from the college network, proposes in particular to set in motion a vast project to promote and modernize general education, while French and philosophy courses are often perceived as being “useless” and “dusty” by students, they emphasize.
No à la carte formula
However, its members are not proposing any major change in the content or offering of French and philosophy courses.
The College Student Federation, for its part, called for a greater diversity of course choices, so that students could take French and philosophy courses that interest them more.
Minister Déry concludes, after reading the report, that teachers and CEGEPs already have the possibility of modernizing and adapting their content in French and philosophy, based on existing frameworks.
“We still have the impression that it is too rigid, when there is this possibility of further innovation,” says the minister, who hopes that this report will give “an impetus” to the actors of the college network in order to work in that direction.
Growing gaps
The members of the working group, who wrote this report following an extensive consultation in the college network, also note a “growing preparatory deficiency” of students arriving at CEGEP, in particular with regard to “mastery of the language, literacy and thinking skills”, which harms their success, we can read.
To correct the situation, no less than 54 recommendations are presented, ranging from better teacher training to the explicit teaching of learning strategies in class.
Reducing the number of students in French and philosophy courses during the first session would also provide them with better support, indicates the working group.
Adapt the assessment
Its members also propose that CEGEPs include “an evaluation of mastery of French other than that which penalizes the number of mistakes”.
Currently, in most CEGEPs, students can lose 10% to 20% of points for an assignment depending on the number of mistakes found there.
“It would be illusory to hope to elucidate the problem of poor language skills by relying solely on the correction of spelling, grammar or syntax errors. Let us avoid giving as much or more importance to spelling, grammar or syntax errors as to the organization of the text and its argumentative quality,” we can read.
Without announcing concrete decisions, Minister Déry promises a consultation tour this fall in order to publicize the content of the report in the college network.
“The vast majority” of its recommendations directly concern teachers and CEGEPs, she indicates, without committing for the moment to grant additional funding to implement the various proposed measures.
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