{"id":4371,"date":"2025-08-19T03:25:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T01:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fpss.lacsq.org\/?post_type=actualite&p=4371"},"modified":"2025-08-19T03:29:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T01:29:00","slug":"2025-2026-back-to-school-period-the-government-broke-the-social-contract-in-education","status":"publish","type":"actualite","link":"https:\/\/fpss.lacsq.org\/en\/actualites\/2025-2026-back-to-school-period-the-government-broke-the-social-contract-in-education\/","title":{"rendered":"2025-2026 back-to-school period – The government broke the social contract in education"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-4371","actualite","type-actualite","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"image":4366,"image_tablette":4368,"image_mobile":4370,"push":false,"push_message":"","contenu_flexible":[{"acf_fc_layout":"1_colonne","texte":"\u00a0<\/strong>On the eve of the 2025-2026 back-to-school period, the Centrale des syndicats du Qu\u00e9bec (CSQ)<\/a> and its school network federations want to point out the context of instability in which the students will be welcome in the coming days.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe back-to-school period is the moment of all possibilities! The energy of the first school days has a special effervescence. Once again, all personnel \u2013 teachers, school support staff and professionals \u2013 will be ready to ensure everything goes smoothly. But at what cost? It\u2019s the question on everybody\u2019s lips. It\u2019s impossible to start this school year without talking about the major impacts that the funding instability creates,\u201d argues CSQ president \u00c9ric Gingras.\r\n\r\nUnited in a common press conference, CSQ president \u00c9ric Gingras and the other school network presidents, Richard Bergevin of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des syndicats de l\u2019enseignement (FSE-CSQ)<\/a>, \u00c9ric Pronovost of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ)<\/a> and Carolane Desmarais of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration du personnel professionnel de l\u2019\u00e9ducation du Qu\u00e9bec (FPPE-CSQ)<\/a>, are unanimous that the saga of the 570 million dollars in budget cuts announced last June, despite their reinvestment during the summer, put the school network back in a cynical slump.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe catastrophic cuts scenario is put aside for now, but it doesn\u2019t change the fact that the network needs predictability. Yes, the government invested in education, but not at the level needed in light of the increase of young people in our schools and centres, and of the needs related to students in difficulty. If education really was a priority, these various factors would be taken into account and it\u2019s not the case,\u201d adds \u00c9ric Gingras, who regrets that the Minister of Education isn\u2019t defending the school network.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe government broke the social contract in education. Not all students are equal right now, and not all of them, by the Minister of Education\u2019s own admission, have access to the services they are entitled to.\u201d\r\n\r\nUnionism in education is here to stay<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\u201cSince the beginning of 2025, the government is looking for a target and is bashing the unions: the number of strikes and conflicts, Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s financial rating downgrade, the economical and social instability, the negative statements on the governments\u2019 policies and orientations. It\u2019s always the unions\u2019 fault. Enough is enough, insists CSQ president \u00c9ric Gingras. We are not responsible for the government\u2019s bad political choices!\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cUnionism in education is here to stay and I\u2019ll even add that it might be more important than ever. And heads up! What\u2019s coming isn\u2019t a union battle. It\u2019s a fight led by workers already on the ground every day. By parents too, we\u2019re hoping. Governments and ministers change, but the personnel stays. And it\u2019s for them that we\u2019re speaking out in the public space and that we will continue to denounce what has to be.\u201d\r\n\r\nChange in education requires a great reflection<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe CSQ and its federations believe that, to repair the social contract in education, there needs to be a great collective reflection involving all education stakeholders, a demand repeated by the CSQ for many months.\r\n\r\nLast January, the CSQ published the results of a L\u00e9ger survey<\/a> [in French] that revealed, among other things, that close to 70% of Quebecers feel that a great collective reflection needs to happen to develop a clear vision and long-term plan for the network.\r\n\r\nThe basis of the challenges that are shaking the education network lie in the foundation and mission of education itself. \u201cWe know that the population backs the education personnel, it\u2019s more the lack of support, the structures and the infrastructures that are the issue. And the political choices of the government only widen the breach of trust. And at the CSQ, that\u2019s what we want to work on. And offer solutions that come from the community. Besides, it\u2019s what the members want: suggest, contribute, act,\u201d maintain the union leaders.\r\n\r\n\u201cThat\u2019s the great collective reflection we\u2019re asking for. We want to talk about youth academic success, equality of chances, school and social diversity. We want to talk about education, for real. We want a plan, a collective project, structuring and inspiring for the Qu\u00e9bec of tomorrow.\u201d\r\n\r\nWorries for students\u2019 success<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\u201cWe wish teachers a good school year, but we already know it will be demanding, because they\u2019ll live with the ever-present threat of unjustifiable cuts. Furthermore, the shortage situation will increase pressure on teachers who will have to support and help people starting in the profession with insufficient training. The government will need to support its teachers and stop attacking them with constraints and new obligations that overload and devalue them.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Richard Bergevin, president of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des syndicats de l\u2019enseignement (FSE-CSQ).\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/strong>Elimination of essential positions and instability for school support staff<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe 2025 back-to-school period is starting in a climate of uncertainty and anger for the school support staff. While students return to their school, many direct services intended for them are weakened by the elimination of essential positions, despite the recent partial budget\u2019s correction. On the administrative side, a hiring freeze is paralyzing an already undermined network. In the context of a glaring labour shortage, the government chooses to make the situation worse instead of better. Many of our members, essential to the smooth running of the network, come out of a summer filled with anxiety, many having spent their holidays fearing for their job, and they\u2019re kept into instability until the end of August. Stop the cuts in education.\u201d \u2013\u00a0\u00c9ric Pronovost, president of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ).\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/strong>Jeopardized well-being and learning conditions<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\u201cAt a time when the school network was already in difficulty, when the personnel and students\u2019 distress was already palpable, the government chose to cut in a host of services, including professional services, and then to partially reinvest under conditions that are impossible to achieve. Too little too late, we worry that the chaos has settled for good. School service centres will need to exercise caution given the funding instability and, despite what the Minister says, the community will suffer from professional services cuts. This political mess will directly affect students\u2019 well-being and learning conditions in our schools. Nevertheless, the professional personnel\u2019s expertise is more essential than ever to maintain a quality public school network. We won\u2019t stay idle when faced with these cuts that are denounced by every stakeholder in our society.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Carolane Desmarais, president of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration du personnel professionnel de l'\u00e9ducation du Qu\u00e9bec (FPPE-CSQ).","couleur":""}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fpss.lacsq.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/actualite\/4371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fpss.lacsq.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/actualite"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fpss.lacsq.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/actualite"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fpss.lacsq.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}