Over the last few weeks I have been campaigning for the position of President of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA). Yesterday at the annual meeting David D’Aoust was elected to that position. However the experience sharpened many of my thoughts about how best to promote English education in Quebec, how to strengthen our political clout, and how best to support member-boards in their continuing efforts to improve results. Those who attended the Friday evening debates heard a number of proposals and suggestions, but not all commissioners were present, and the debate proceeded swiftly. In the interests of conserving some ideas for future consideration I have decided to blog about those that struck me most forcefully. Blogging is new to me so please pardon any blunders.
Our attitude toward the minister of education Line Beauchamp is one area that should be reconsidered. Whether we like it or not, she is our best ally and we should begin treating her and the ministry with respect. This doesn’t mean that we should meekly endorse every idea or accept every decision from the ministry. However we should stop presuming that the government has a hidden agenda to destroy or demolish education, or in particular English education. We, the English school boards are simply not that important in the grand scheme of things.
That may be a bitter pill to swallow for some, and perhaps a stunning denial to others, but if we examine our relative size and impact objectively it becomes impossible to conclude other than that we are a marginal and minor part of education in Quebec. The minister and her predecessors as far back as when Francois Legault was minister of education have repeatedly told us that we are performing at a high level and are the model that the whole Quebec education system should adopt. Why is it so hard to believe our partner and so easy to attack every decision made for the majority. Our problem is not the minister but the bureaucracy that prefers to apply policy uniformly rather than make the effort to individualize and modify. Our other challenge, not an enemy but a reality, is the political climate that makes it impossible for any government or minister to publicly declare the English system to be superior and to suggest that French school boards and schools should emulate us.
Politics has conspired to make the PLQ even more our friend and supporter. When every other political party and movement has adopted school board abolition as a policy, the PLQ has no choice but to endorse school board survival. It must be seen to differ from the opposition parties. That carries it own risks. If the PLQ is defeated by a party dedicated to abolition of school boards, the risks to our structures soar. However abolition is not inevitable even then. Many of us recall the Liberal party of Canada under Jean Chretien campaigning ferociously on the promise to abolish the GST, only to ignore that promise once elected. Earlier, the Trudeau Liberals won an election by promising to eliminate a fuel tax, only to increase it afterward. We need to become far more realistic about what actually threatens us and what can safely be relegated to a minor concern. That said, we should be strengthening our lines of communication with opposition parties and with Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) in every riding. Collectively we serve all 105 Quebec ridings and between elections we have the opportunity to communicate to local representatives how we contribute to the local economy and to regional prosperity.
Education has become the focus of much attention because success of future generations, of our economy, of our culture and society has become associated with education. The shift to a knowledge economy requires workers with high skills, knowledge and adaptability to change, and we are expected to educate to a high standard. At the same time demographics indicates that there will be fewer workers to support the aging population and we want all of them to be qualified, to be employed, to be productive so that retired boomers can live the life of leisure and comfort that we have been expecting. Together education and health consume close to three-quarters of government expenditures. It is inevitable that they should become the target of budget cuts, the focus of effort to improve services and efficiency and the subject of public debate.
We are victims of our own strategies and tactics. We appeal ceaselessly for more resources. We cite cases of urgent need to serve students whose needs are evident. We claim the system is crushed and incapable of responding. In so doing we portray a broken inadequate education system. How idiotic! International testing shows that Canada has the best education results of the G20 and ranks in the top 5 worldwide, outperformed only by such special cases as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and the like. We need to trumpet our excellence, not decry our failings. We need to advocate for more resources based on continuing to improve an excellent system rather than to repair a broken one. We need to use the independent comparisons by such credible bodies as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support our case and refute the slanders and misinformation that alone support political appeals for reform. Unless we make this change in our public declarations we are helping our enemies.
To make any real progress in the political sphere we need to work far more closely with French school boards and their Federation (FCSQ). At the local level we find many successful cooperative activities. Why not association to federation? We have nothing to fear and neither do they? Politically, our objectives are practically identical. Mutual positions will ensure that we speak with a single voice to the government and to the public. Instead of weakening each other we will benefit from the strength of unity in seeking to do the best for every student in Quebec. Our differences are not with the FCSQ but with those who propose the wholesale demolition of our successful and high-performing system.
More later
Michael Murray, Chairman
Eastern Townships School Board
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