Feedback on the Rendezvous for Educational Success

Although the Rendezvous for educational success: education beyond the pandemic organized by the Quebec Ministry of Education took place behind closed doors at the end of March, some participating groups made their brief public. We share a few things that emerge from these documents with you.

Higher Education Council

In his memory, the Council presented three “key ideas” which should guide educational actions and support students' educational success in the current context:

1. Combat the inequalities resulting from the pandemic. The latter will have exacerbated certain gaps which existed previously and which it is essential to reduce.

2. Reinvest in educational innovations and integrate flexibility at the local level. In particular, it is necessary to acquire the means to inventory the initiatives that have been deployed locally, to document their effects (or spin-offs) and to widely share those which appear to be the most promising.

3. Maximize consultation and mobilization of all stakeholders around the student. It is essential to team up around students to meet their needs, ensure their well-being and support their commitment and educational success.

Educational innovations

With regard to educational innovations, the Council more particularly notes that:

• The pandemic has forced the adaptation of learning activities to the diversity of needs and the constraints imposed. Many educational practices thus exploited will benefit from being preserved after the pandemic. Certain tools have also facilitated consultation and communication between actors, in particular the use of a common digital platform. The Council considers it necessary to maintain this movement of innovation by supporting continuing education and a more flexible school organization.
• New methods established in the context of a pandemic should be reinvested, such as the pursuit of distance learning for certain students for whom this form is more suitable and in whom it generates commitment. 
• The pandemic will have led students and school staff to use digital technology on a sustained basis for distance education. Digital skills have thus been mobilized and constitute assets to be retained and redirected towards face-to-face educational purposes.
• Distance education, which raises several ethical issues such as respect for privacy and online bullying, will also have underlined the importance of formally teaching digital competence with all its behavioral, informational and socio-emotional dimensions (CSE, 2020a). While it is important to educate with digital tools, we must also support digital education and not aim at simply learning technical knowledge.

Finally, the Council argues that “the sustainable implementation of education in and through digital technology will only be possible if the funding granted to respond to the emergency of the pandemic (purchase of equipment, technical support, educational support, etc. .) is perpetuated. In this sense, providing continuing education and adequate support to teaching staff is crucial. "

Federation of Private Educational Institutions (FEEP)

In his memory, FEEP offers 14 recommendations that aim to better equip staff to face the challenges of the pandemic and enable them to properly support students towards success, by paying all the necessary attention to their mental health and well-being. to be.

FEEP's first recommendation specifically concerns digital:

Complete the digital shift in Quebec schools from a perspective of equity between schools and regions. This requires the professional development of teaching staff and a modernization of the teacher training program.

Among the gains to be retained after the crisis, FEEP notes, considering the fact that schools have demonstrated their capacity to offer distance education, distance education should be allowed in certain situations in general training for young people, in particular for the following reasons :

• ensure the continuity of educational services during an epidemic, natural disaster, etc .;
• allow schools to follow up with long-term hospitalized students (currently, these students are taken care of by the school service center and the students are cut off from their environment);
• facilitate support for students who have to be away for a long period (athletes, families spending a few months abroad, etc .;
• increase the offer of services to students with particular challenges (for example gifted students who do not have access to certain enrichments in their region, students who wish to learn a third language that is not taught at their school, etc. .

Federation of Quebec Parents' Committees (FCPQ)

In his memory, the FCPQ mentions that, since the start of the pandemic, the level of parental satisfaction with the communications received from schools has increased. This shows that communications tend to become more uniform, faster and more efficient.

The FCPQ also wants "advances" in the use of digital technology "not to be lost during the return to normal." She suggests that emergency protocols be updated to include distance education and even that a government policy names good practices in this regard. Finally, she believes that parents should also have access to training to properly use technological tools.

Different collaborators in the education sector

Another memory was also written based on #EduClubhouse and #EduProf discussions that took place at the end of March and in which several collaborators from the education community participated. Discussions were moderated by Myra Auvergnat Ringuette, primary school teacher at Externat St-Jean-Berchmans, and Maxime Pelchat, digital strategist at CADRE21.

This brief contains a very simple list of recommendations for each of the subjects dealt with during the Rendezvous. It includes, for example, ideas to encourage new pedagogical approaches (eg flexible classroom and outdoor classroom) and the use of digital tools to keep track of student learning. The proposal to systematically offer “stormy days” in distance education is also made.

Aperitif in education

Following the two days of discussions at the Rendezvous for Educational Success, the École branchée had the pleasure of organizing an Educational Apéro. This is an event that took place on Facebook Live on 1^er April. We present you a summary in this other text.