Gomtolpios: Quebec faces shortage of school principals and vice-principals, associations say

Quebec is going to find itself with a shortage of school principals and vice-principals for back-to-school because many are quitting or retiring, and many are on extended sick leave, associations that represent school directors are warning.

“We expect to see more empty chairs this August than last year,” said Carl Ouellet, president of the Association québécoise du personnel de direction d’école (AQPDE), which represents 800 principals and vice-principals in the Quebec City region and the South Shore near Montreal.

Article content

Ouellet’s warning comes after the Fédération québécoise des directions d’établissement (FQDE), representing 2,300 principals and vice-principals in the province, warned last week that about 60 of its members — or about 2.6 per cent of the membership — had told their association they have handed in their resignations ahead of the next school year. A little more than half of them intend to return to teaching positions, the association said.

The Association Montréalaise des Directions d’Établissement Scolaire (AMDES), which represents about 625 school directors in Montreal, has also said its members are inquiring about returning to teaching and retiring early.

Ouellet said about two per cent of the AQPDE’s membership — about 16 school directors — are quitting, many of whom plan to return to teaching. Another 1.9 per cent are retiring and another 3.5 per cent are on sick leave, he said. The number on extended sick leave is “really worrying,” he added.

The school service centres where his members work have only 40 to 45 substitutes combined to fill vacant positions, which is already not enough, Ouellet said. And some principals and vice-principals are still mulling over whether to leave, he said.

Article content

There are more vice-principals than principals who are quitting, Ouellet said. Many are returning to teaching because teachers can now get paid more than a school vice-principal, he said.

Quebec teachers received “good” pay raises in their new collective agreements, Ouellet said. The three associations representing principals and vice-principals in the province are only set to negotiate pay and work conditions with the government this fall, he said.

“So you have teachers who are paid higher than members of the administration,” Ouellet said. “It’s another demotivating factor for principals and vice-principals to remain (in the job), and they’re returning to teaching.”

Principals and vice-principals are also retiring early, he added. “They’re tired. They accept penalties on their retirement benefits. Some people are currently thinking about it.”

Principals and vice-principals are loaded with more administrative tasks than before, which is driving many to quit or retire early, Ouellet said. Such tasks include more requests from school service centres and the education ministry to fill out forms for data collection.

“It leaves us taking care less of pedagogy,” he said.

“We’re more in administrative work than work on the ground with our students, with our parents and with our teachers.”

The AQPDE is asking the government for administrative support in the schools, Ouellet said. Some school centres are hiring administrative managers as a pilot project, he said, but it’s not enough.

Recommended from Editorial