Secondary 4 history teacher Jimmy Grenier did not fall out of his chair when he learned that more than one in four 4th grade students failed the ministerial reading test in 2023.
• Read also: “It’s colossal”: more than a quarter of 4th grade students failed the ministerial reading test
• Read also: Failures in the 4th grade reading exam: “This is extremely worrying”
“It doesn’t surprise me that much, because we are already starting to feel the effects of the pandemic,” he declared in an interview with LCN.
The latter is currently seeing tangible evidence of the impacts of the pandemic on the educational careers of young people.
“If we don’t take major measures now, we risk seeing the effects for a long time,” says Mr. Grenier.
The latter emphasizes that the shortage of personnel makes post-pandemic catch-up more difficult.
He also observes that the effects of these reading gaps are not limited to French lessons.
“Students sometimes write to sound or even have difficulty reading questions that are not so complex,” mentions the history teacher.
“I have the impression that the students I have, whether in reading or writing, are less strong than they were before,” he adds.
For Jimmy Grenier, there is a correlation between reading gaps and his students’ difficulties in history.
“When I look at a secondary 4 history student who is having difficulty, the first thing I look at on his report card when I want to try to find out what the problem is for this young person is his grade. in French-reading and it’s rare that I make a mistake,” he says.
The latter believes that reading more is one of the main means that must be put forward to counter students’ reading difficulties.
“We must put books in the hands of our children,” he proclaims.
To listen to the full interview with the teacher, see the video above
