The syndicate denounced the Minister of Education’s insistence on paving the way for distance education projects, “knowing that this method of teaching harms the relationship between teacher and student.”
“The Minister holds in his hands a study by Simon Collin, Professor at the Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), which shows in black and white that distance education degrades the pedagogical relationship between students and individuals,” said FPEP-CSQ President Stéphane Lapointe in a press release. .
Bill 23 would allow the Minister of Education to grant, upon justified request, authorization to a student or group of students to receive distance education services.
The FPEP-CSQ chair recalls that for three years, faculty members in the private network asked him to limit and limit distance education. This request was notably repeated in the media in December 2022.
However, he insisted and signed in a way that contradicts science and evidence. We invite him to reconsider this option.
– Stéphane Lapointe, Head of FPEP-CSQ
FPEP-CSQ Vice President Marie-Josée Dallaire believes that student educational success is at the heart of this debate.
“There is no equivalent, on a pedagogical level, to a physical presence in the classroom. The staff wants to teach in the best conditions for the success of the students and not to play the career or play the hiatus,” she says.
The FPEP-CSQ confirms that “93% of faculty say that the pedagogical relationship between a teacher and their students will always be of better quality face-to-face than online, regardless of the type of online teaching used.”
See also: What would redesigning education in Drenville change?
Many failures during the pandemic
At the beginning of December 2022, the Auditor General of Quebec also had a harsh record on distance education during the pandemic in the second volume of its annual report.
In particular, it was about the lack of equipment, insufficient technological support and delays in learning.
The VGQ report noted that Quebec’s Ministry of Education (MEQ) and Centers for School Service (CSS) “lack the tools to deal with the significant change caused by the health crisis to Quebec’s school network.”
