Over the next five years, Quebec wants to attract 8,000 teachers, special education technicians and daycare educators to stem the labor shortage.
Posted at 1:24 p.m.
Updated at 2:25 p.m.
“We cannot tolerate a lack of manpower in education. It is an essential service,” said Minister of Education Jean-François Roberge at a press briefing.
To do this, the government will organize new recruitment missions in France and Belgium, but also create replacement contracts “to give stability to the schools”.
Being called in the morning to find out in which school you will have to do substitution is “something that wears out,” observed Minister Roberge, who believes that “we are losing people with that. »
School service centers will be able to have contracts signed so that substitute teachers go to the same schools each week. “It’s a better way to manage human resources,” said the minister.
Quebec is once again appealing to retired teachers, assuring them that they will be at the top of the salary scale without penalty if they return. Last year, 700 retirees returned to the network and the government expects to attract an “even larger number” of retired teachers in the coming years.
The Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity, Jean Boulet, said that Quebec aspires to recruit 2,500 preschool and primary teachers, 3,000 secondary school teachers and 2,000 daycare educators.
The government is also investing $22.6 million to train more daycare educators.
No closed classes, says Minister Roberge
There were no classes or schools closed on Friday due to COVID-19, the Minister of Education also said, who also assures that no break in service has taken place in schools. “So far, the network is open as we wanted,” said Jean-François Roberge.
A “gathering of information” was done last week to find out how many students are currently absent and Quebec says that these figures will be revealed “as soon as it is ready”.