School Board & Teachers' Union Make Joint Proposal

For ten years Montreal teachers have worked to live up to the standards of Quebec's education reform. Students have often been taught on the fly, due to late approval or complete lack of textbooks. Parents have gazed at report cards, trying to make sense of the confusing competences and still not sure whether Johnny could add, identify the provinces of his own country, or tell a noun from a verb.

Some 8,000 teachers and the school board for which they work are now saying, enough is enough! The Commission scolaire de Montréal and the Alliance des professeures et professeurs de Montréal made history late last week when they joined together to make a series of recommendations to education minister Michelle Courchesne. While they don't see their initiative as a reform of the reform, they do see a need for some important changes, particularly when it comes to evaluating student performance.

"Je pense que la CSDM s'est rendue aux arguments des enseignants sur le fait que la réforme n'avait pas diminué le taux de décrochage, pas amélioré la réussite et qu'il fallait donner un coup de barre," says Nathalie Morel, president of the teachers' union. The curriculum reform has neither increased academic success nor reduced our dropout rate. Both the union and the school board see the need to be moving in a new direction. Courchesne applauded the work of the teachers and the board in a radio interview.

Morel underlined that the recommendations do not constitute returning to the system in place before the reform, despite the obvious similarities. And while the recommendations do emphasize a return to teaching and evaluating knowledge, rather than developing broader competences, there was no attempt made to throw out the Quebec Education Program (QEP.) The document that lays out the province's curriculum seems to be in no danger.

Recommendations include:
No formal evaluation of cross-curricular competences;
A return to report cards with percentage grades, a 60% pass mark, and in many cases a single mark rather than evaluation for two or more competences;
Shorter and more manageable exams, taking place for the most part in a two-week period at the end of the school year to maximize learning time;
Evaluation of children with special needs to reflect their progress, and not to compare them with a typical child of the same age;
An emphasis on basic knowledge and skills (math, spelling, grammar, etc.) as the foundation for other learning ("savoir" before "savoir-faire.") The obligation to transmit and evaluate knowledge to be a key point in policy and law.

Sources:

"Les entrevues avec Nathalie Morel et avec Michelle Courchesne" René Homier-Roy, "C'est bien meilleure le matin" (Radio-Canada)

"Évaluation centrée sur les connaissances plutôt que sur les compétences" Alliance des professeures et professeurs de Montréal

"Montreal school board proposes reform of reform" Karen Fournier (Examiner.com)

"Réformer la réforme" Radio-Canada