Quebec's new education minister unveils plan to improve French in schools, fast-track teacher training

Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville unveiled a list of priorities Thursday to get more teachers in classrooms, renovate schools and improve French-language instruction.

Faced with a major shortage of teaching personnel, the Coalition Avenir Québec government announced it wants to revive a fast track to teacher certification that would allow university graduates to qualify as teachers by earning 30 credits instead of the current 60.

Drainville also plans to reinforce classrooms with daycare educators, remedial teachers and speech therapists and, according to the minister, pilot projects have already proved conclusive.

"Having two adults in the classroom will help the effort," said Drainville. "We will continue to add more professionals."

In addition to boosting education staff, the CAQ government wants to renovate schools, since more than 50 per cent of them are considered to be in poor condition, according to Radio-Canada.

The government also aims to expand special projects in public secondary schools, improve data-sharing and invest in vocational training.

On the subject of French, the minister promised to take measures to improve the quality of French-language instruction and curb the decline of written French.

Drainville said his plan is the result of discussions with educators and that he will follow up with announcements for each of the priorities along with solutions to resolve each of the challenges.

"We want to make a difference for teachers, for school staff, but especially for our children and their parents. We are doing all this for them," he said.

"We are not going to fix everything overnight, but we have to start somewhere."

'The devil is in the details'

But the minister's promises were met with some skepticism in the education community.

The provincial federation of school directors, known by its French acronym FQDE, is asking for more detail. Its president, Nicolas Prévost, said the government doesn't have a broad enough vision of the issues facing the education system.

There is a shortage of not only teachers but support staff and school principals as well, he said.

Mélanie Hubert, the president of one of the larger teachers' unions, the FAE, says the plan does not include measures to retain teachers — only to train new ones.

"We will have to see how Mr. Drainville will roll this out," said Hubert. "The devil will be in the details."

No mention of cost

The Official Opposition criticized Drainville for not including specifics like how much the plan would cost.

"I notice that [the CAQ] is in the fifth year of its mandate, and the results are not there. Bernard Drainville is not even able to say how many teachers are missing," said interim leader Marc Tanguay.

Liberal education critic Marwah Rizqy said she welcomes the extra support for teachers but denounced Drainville's announcement as a public relations exercise.

"These are good priorities," she told Radio-Canada. "But the meat on the bone is missing. How are we going to retain our teachers?"