Dissatisfied teachers in the workplace

These results were revealed by Nathalie Houlfort, the lead person in the study, at a convention organized by the Syndicat de l'enseignement de la région de Laval, held this past Thursday.

Of little surprise, the answers provided by 250 respondents to the questionnaire are consistent with similar claims made in the past few years.

Even if 79% of them express a commitment to their profession, and 78% their commitment to their students, it is learned that more than half of them are dissatisfied at work.

The study also points out that this dissatisfaction is primarily the result of The Reform (every participant noted at least one negative aspect of The Reform), lack of resources (mentioned by more than 70%), integration of students with learning disabilities, as well as the frequent absence of administrators.

21% of the respondents said their mental health is average to poor, compared with 8% of the Quebec population (Quebec Statistics Institute).

"In the teachers' responses I detected both a passion for the profession and a certain level of distress," relates Nathalie Houlfort. "They often mention large classes, management problems, mainstream students who are penalized because of the time given to difficult cases, and a crying need for resources."

These conclusions are drawn from a preliminary study of 250 of the 400 questionnaires filled out. The rest of the results will be available in the summer.

Mrs. Houlfort was even asked to give a workshop on the impact of The Education Reform on motivation in the workplace.

"It's a workshop that lends itself very well to our event," explains union president Michel Trempe. "Since the implementation of the reform, we've witnessed a massive integration of students with learning difficulties which, combined with insufficient resources, has led to classes becoming unmanageable."

"In Laval, it's particular," he adds. "There's a practice of school closures because of economic constraints, but this leads to a shortage of space. To compensate, we have to create new spaces in existing schools. It's often an aberration. A number of classes, especially at the kindergarten level, don't even have windows."

Asked for its reaction to the results of the study and the impact on workplace motivation, the Commission scolaire de Laval (CSDL) declined to comment, for the time being. "We haven't looked at the study because we were not given a copy," explained Jean-Pierre Archambault, CSDL spokesperson.

Photo:trempe