September and October are autumn for us. For school staff this is sustainable growth. I wanted to know how they were doing. I received responses from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Gatineau and Greater Montreal. They all describe the same tension: school is both hard and bright.
Fires that need to be put out
In special education, a young teacher says she “saw the end” this week. Seven autistic children, the daily routine is slower than usual, the feeling that September will never end. Then everything evens out a little; a delicate balance emerges. She remembers why she chose this profession.
Last year, on social media, elementary school teacher David Bessette spoke loudly about what many were experiencing: exhaustion. He explains to me one of the reasons: the severity of the classes. Feels like you constantly have to put out fires. Integrating struggling students without promised resources means that one adult is expected to meet everyone's needs. He notes that this is unfair to these students who do not light the fires, who would benefit most from the teacher's presence and availability.
This year he's breathing: four days a week, thanks to the rare flexibility his school service center offers. He quotes his colleague Sylvain Duclos: “There is no shortage of teachers, but there are teachers who want to work in schools.” Daily life has become too demanding. Salary or not. To retain teachers, we must restore meaning and life to the profession. David, after ten years of creating an outdoor education project, is finally reaping the rewards.
Caring for others
In Greater Montreal, a teacher was cut 20 minutes for being late, but was never paid for her evenings and weekends for planning and corrections. Given the shortage, this also applies to some non-legally qualified (NLQ) teachers. The trainee can actually complete the training course. Absurd: interns are not paid, but NLQs are paid. This cannot be corrected at school: she has to do NLC.
Elsewhere, a teacher had to be replaced for half a day. Long preparation for replacement, which is rarely done by a specialist. The replacement was unsuccessful, and subsequent disciplinary measures took time. But that same week, his voice actors finally understood the important concepts of the course. Proof that repeating assessments can pay off if you put the right people in the right place.
For Luc Papineau, a French teacher, the strength of the profession is the team. He repeats that the work progresses in small victories, week after week. Sami-Jane Tremblay has a case in point in her Reception class: one of his older students stood up without being asked and walked around the room to support classmates who spoke his language. Thanks to him, many understood the task. In Gatineau, a social work specialist sees a student come back after two years and ask for support “because you are a person you can trust.” The parent thanks her for supporting the child.
A few sparks keeping the flame alive.
Miracles do not prove that everything is fine with the system. They prove that people still support it. Imagine what students and staff would gain if we finally offered stable and humane conditions. Let a miracle cease to be a system and become an exception again.
