Achi news desk-
Almost 5,000 public school teachers with permanent positions in Quebec have left over the past five years.
According to a report by the French-language media outlet “Journal de Montreal”, from 2018 to 2023, the number of teachers who quit increased by 76%, to a total of 4,880.
“Our profession has probably suffered for the last 20 years,” said Stephen Le Sueur, union group president of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (QPAT).
QPAT said staff retention is a problem in English and French schools, with Le Sueur claiming 25% of teachers leave in the first five years of their career.
While the latest data doesn’t reveal why workers quit, Le Sueur said there are several key reasons.
“It’s all about workload and costs, class composition and classroom support with our special needs students,” he said.
The district and its teachers unions just renewed their collective bargaining agreements, and now the money is better, but little has changed about the workload, said Westmount High School teacher Robert Green.
“You won’t find one teacher in this building who doesn’t spend a good portion of their weekends and evenings unpaid, you know, working, fixing, planning, doing all of that,” he said.
The veteran teacher said that until the government listens to them and addresses their concerns, he thinks more and more people will leave.
Quebec’s Ministry of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
