Are Quebec teachers ready to teach the new culture and citizenship course?
CBC
Days before the start of school, some Quebec teachers say they feel unprepared to teach the province's new Culture and Citizenship of Quebec (CCQ) course.
The mandatory program requires covering a wide range of subjects, such as the environment, democracy, Indigenous peoples, sex education and information and communications technology.
In 2021, the Coalition Avenir Québec government announced the CCQ would replace the province's ethics and religious culture course by addressing contemporary challenges.
"It is very, very, very broad," said Stéphan Béland, president of the Vieilles-Forges teachers' union in Quebec's Mauricie region east of Montreal. "CCQ teachers will become specialists in many areas."
A survey conducted by the Fédération des syndicats de l'enseignement de la Centrale des syndicats du Québec (FSE-CSQ), an umbrella union for teachers, last spring shows that out of nearly 3,000 teachers who responded, 81 per cent said they were not trained or equipped enough to teach the program — despite two-thirds of them having received training.
Béland said the results are representative of the Mauricie region, and that several factors could explain them.
The training offered by the ministry was, and still is, optional. Although most of the guides are available online, teachers could theoretically teach the course without having received training.
The Education Ministry also has yet to approve the textbooks for elementary or high schools.
The ministry said in an email to Radio-Canada that textbooks will be available as of September.
"These are sensitive subjects," Béland said. "Whether in elementary or high school, there are teachers who may not feel able to teach [for example] content related sex education."
Béland also pointed to educators not having enough hours to teach all the course content.
While the ministry recommends a certain number of teaching hours, it doesn't mandate the amount of time spent on the course, he said.
Steven Le Sueur, president of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (QPAT), says he expects the course to have "a difficult start," with teachers lacking training and materials in both languages.
He said the government needs to delay the implementation of CCQ.
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