A federation of teachers’ union in Quebec is calling on political parties to act after nearly one in five teachers said they may leave the profession due to poor conditions in a study.
According to a survey by the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) of 2,400 Quebec teachers released Wednesday, 16 per cent of teachers said they were either likely to leave the profession or were unsure of staying.
Nearly half of the respondents also said a high workload was affecting their work-life balance and that their students were not receiving adequate services.
Marion Miller, an art teacher at a high school in Montreal, said, “It just feels sometimes like it’s not possible to get a work-life balance and I know that many, many teachers feel that.”
“I’ve spoken to many, many colleagues every year who in their darkest part of the school year talk about leaving or even actively start job searching,” Miller added.
Marion Miller, a Montreal high school art teacher. (submitted)
“This excessive workload is not confined to the school setting; it significantly spills over into their personal lives, with many reporting direct impacts on their work-life balance, their health, and their families,” the FAE said in a press release.
The survey also showed that passion for teaching (93 per cent) and relationship with the students (83 per cent) were the top reasons for staying in the profession.
The federation said that this represented a “heartbreaking dilemma” about whether or not to stay as teachers.
FAE represents over 60,000 teachers across schools and vocational training centres in the province’s major population centres including, Montreal and Quebec City.
The results comes on the heels of the news that the province is short of over 3,000 teachers ahead of the upcoming school year.
Anne-Christine Tardif, vice president for professional affairs at FAE, said the number of teachers considering quitting was concerning.
“The 16 per cent who want to leave, that’s enormous and there aren’t enough new teachers entering the profession to replace those who are leaving,” Tardif said. “We have to be concerned.”
The FAE says 74 per cent consider access to student services a major factor in staying, but almost 50 per cent report dissatisfaction with the access.
“There aren’t enough resource teachers or specialists to be meeting individually with all the students who need that extra help,” Miller said.
“There aren’t enough paraprofessionals, there aren’t enough special educators to be dealing with situations in this school. So everyone’s kind of chasing their own tail.”
As political parties gear up for the provincial elections in October, Tardif says that priority should be making sure students have access to the services they need–so teachers aren’t left to fill the gaps themselves.
Québec solidaire MNA Alejandra Zaga Mendez for Verdun said providing resources to teachers was the key to get them to stay in their jobs.
“We need to protect our budget in education,” Mendez said. “What that means is to increase them each year at least more than the inflation, the CAQ hasn’t done that.”
The FAE also says the next government must act to reduce the workload and class sizes needed to retain teachers.
“We’re asking our teachers to work miracles with less and less support. Our working conditions no longer respect human limits,” said Tardif. “It’s time to act before we lose even more talent.”
Quebec Liberal Party MNA Madwa-Nika Cadet said her party would reform internships for those seeking to become licensed teachers in the province.
“One of our main commitments is to make sure that these internships will be paid,” Cadet said.
The survey was conducted online among 2,402 teachers at the preschool, elementary, and secondary levels, as well as those in the adult education and vocational training sectors, from the nine unions affiliated with the FAE.
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