Special report by the Québec Ombudsman - Putting students first - For adapted educational services for students with special learning and adjustment needs

QUÉBEC CITY, June 13, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ -  Today, Québec Ombudsman Marc-André Dowd released the Putting students first investigation report, which describes the slate of student services, their organization and their funding for elementary-school students with special learning and adaptation needs. At the end of an investigation into the access of students to responsive educational services in the public school system, the Québec Ombudsman made 11 recommendations to the Ministère de l'Éducation du Québec (MÉQ).

"At a crucial stage in their development, elementary-school students don't get all the attention they need from the school system to foster their educational success. While 'waiting their turn' for the services they have a legal right to, they don't progress as they should and their academic delays persist, stopping them from advancing through the system and hindering their personal and social growth," said Marc-André Dowd. 

The Québec Ombudsman noted a disconnect between real needs and the resources for meeting them, as well as significant risk of failure to respect the rights of students to the special services that are necessary for them. These services, notably, remedial education, psychoeducation, speech therapy, specialized education and psychology services, make it possible to integrate students with special learning or adjustment needs into mainstream classes.

Services that are not always aligned with the real needs of students

Recognized student needs must be the centrepiece of the slate of student services, but this is not what we see in the real world.

• The service offering is hampered by limited financial resources, among other things: often, services are offered according to what is possible rather according to what is necessary.
• The quality assurance process imposed by MÉQ for verifying how certain amounts earmarked for student services are used means that the professional staff who deliver the services get bogged down in administrative tasks. This situation interferes with their availability and, in turn, accessibility to the services they are able to offer.
• There are regional disparities in terms of service access.

Staff shortages

There are not always enough student services staff available in schools to provide the required services in a timely fashion. When this happens, choices with serious consequences must be made.

• For some students, delays for receiving services are lengthy, while for others, the services are not provided by the staff members who are most qualified to do so.
• MÉQ has no clear idea of the number of student service positions that need filling.

Faulty collaboration

The conditions that would enable collaboration among the various players, which is crucial to student success, are not always there.

• Many professionals shuttle from school to school, which makes group exchanges with the members of each school team difficult.
• The lack of stable staffing hinders the development of a feeling of belonging and the creation of ties with the members of the school team, with students and with parents.

Professional development that needs improving

Teachers' university training is such that only certain competencies that make it possible to handle a mixed classroom are developed—and only partially. As a result, professional development is essential so that teachers have the skills for addressing the special learning or adjustment needs of students.

The Québec Ombudsman's recommendations  

Access to services for students with special learning or adjustment needs is not only crucial to their educational success, but it is built into the Education Act.

Here are the Québec Ombudsman's main recommendations:

• Develop student service positions and monitor vacancies.
• Develop tools for shaping the role, responsibilities or participation of parents, students and all those involved in providing student services.
• Develop professional development for teaching staff regarding special learning or adjustment needs.
• Review the funding model for student services and for accountability based on the real needs of students.
• Establish and fund province-wide baseline services.

"When it comes to children, access to knowledge, adapted education and prospects for the future are individual and collective issues that are major. Québec has put the educational success of students at the very centre of the public school system. Every student has the right to succeed, and we must give them ways to do this," the Ombudsman added.

For more information, read the report summary, the highlights of the report (in French only) or the full report (in French only): L'élève avant tout : pour des services adaptés aux besoins des élèves en difficulté d'adaptation ou d'apprentissage.

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