Teacher shortage worldwide The Journal of Montreal

Quebec, like most OECD countries, does not have teachers. While the reasons for this shortage vary from place to place, one common theme stands out: Teachers are not valued enough, even though their work is essential.

In France, the purchasing power of teachers has halved in 40 years. Equivalent to US$40,000 per year after 15 years of experience, they are paid the lowest in developed countries.

Professors in Quebec earn the equivalent of US$72,000 with the same seniority, making them the third highest paid. Only Germany and Luxembourg pay their teachers more.

But in two years there will be a shortage of 26,000 teachers in Germany. As their state has changed, they have lost eternity.

A lot of work

Generally, teachers have to deal with a lot of administrative tasks in addition to their regular tasks. In the United Kingdom, where teacher salaries are low, a third of them complain that they work unpaid overtime. More than 50% of teachers believe that their work has become unmanageable at least some of the time.

The computer revolution is partly responsible for this extra work. Instead of reducing the workload of teachers, it has transferred to them the work carried out by secretaries whose posts were abolished earlier. The same observation applies to many professional fields.

Too much concentration

Governments also want to control the entire educational process. Rather than setting minimum targets and certifying their achievement at the end of the year, governments have reduced schools’ room for manoeuvre. As if all schools were the same. Education systems should be decentralized.

In Quebec

In Quebec, schools are victims of egalitarian ideology and the corporatism of academics.

Thus, previously the classes were divided between enriched, regular and reduced students, the classes became completely mixed. This mix is ​​absolutely wonderful for the weak, but a disaster for the other 80% and discourages teachers.

Egalitarianism also wreaks havoc in textbooks meant for the lowest common denominator. For example, rather than systematically presenting the texts of great authors, textbooks at the elementary level also provide children with silly, silly lessons. Due to this, students and teachers are also getting depressed.

Education faculty impose didactic courses on their students to the detriment of content courses, in French, in the sciences, etc. why Justifying the pre-eminence of their diploma over other university departments.

In fact, university graduates should be able to teach their subject in secondary schools, with only a few courses in pedagogy. This system has worked well for many years.