Education Minister Bernard Drainville announced a new service called “J’obtiens mon brevet” on Wednesday to help teachers who are not legally qualified to get official certification.
According to a press release, the measure is designed to provide direct help to teachers.
The process will start once the the Education Ministry grants “tolerance of engagement” to a school staff member. Then, the service team will communicate directly with the person to provide guidance during the qualification process.
Alongside the fast-track services offered to obtain a teaching certification, this new initiative will further facilitate the certification process for personnel already in Quebec schools.
“(This measure) responds to our desire to qualify more teachers who are already in our classes,” stated Drainville in the press release. “This is another concrete way of elevating the quality of teaching in our network.”
The services offered by the program are meant to help teachers find university programs that suit their interests, inform them of each university’s specific registration procedures, answer their questions about the necessary official certification, such as the requirements and duration of the program, and recommend applicants who meet the requirements to universities which have partnered with the Ministry.
Drainville thanked “the universities that have participated for the creation of fast tracks, and I encourage those that have not yet done so to follow suit.”
Since last year, more than 1,500 teachers who are not legally qualified have registered to these fast tracks to receive a teaching certification.
“J’obtiens mon brevet” is designed to cater structured support during the process for teachers, and alleviate school service centres’ workload.
It is currently up to school service centres, Cree and Kativik school boards and private educational institutions to deal with the steps of the process.
The Minsitry says these tasks all contributed to the centres’ added administrative pressure, given the growing number of registrations for the new university programs, and it will now be the education departments’ responsibility to handle those tasks to simplify the process.
One of the first services offered by the program will be to host information sessions for staff in need of guidance.