One in three daycare educators is not qualified

Photo: Olivier Zuida Archives Le Devoir One in three daycare educators was unqualified in 2023-2024, according to the workforce portrait drawn up by the Quebec Ministry of Families.

The Parti Québécois (PQ) believes that daycare educators should be paid as well as teachers, in a context where the quality of services is plummeting and the proportion of unqualified educators continues to increase.

In 2021-2022, just over a quarter (27%) of daycare educators were considered unqualified. Two years later, in 2023-2024, a third (33.3%) of the staff was unqualified, according to the portrait of the workforce drawn up by the Quebec Ministry of the Family.

In 2021, the government reduced the criteria for obtaining the status of qualified educator, by eliminating, among other things, the requirement to hold a college diploma in early childhood education. Despite the relaxations, Quebec has only managed to recruit a net 278 new qualified educators over the past three years, Radio-Canada reported Thursday.

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The same day, the PQ MNA for the Magdalen Islands, Joël Arseneau, stated that in his opinion, early childhood educators should have salaries equivalent to those of teachers. “Educators must be valued through, yes, working conditions and salary conditions that are on par with higher-level educators,” he said at a press briefing at the National Assembly. As of April 1, 2027, the top of the teacher salary scale will be $109,121.

Minister's plan requested

MP Arseneau also asked the Minister of Families, Suzanne Roy, to table an action plan to respond to the findings made in May by the Auditor General (AG) of Quebec regarding child care services. The VG had notably revealed that nearly a third of Quebec daycare services (29%) did not meet the quality standards of the Ministry of Families, and that the latter carried out “insufficient” and “ineffective” follow-ups in delinquent facilities.

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Minister Roy rebuked the PQ. “It's still a bit ridiculous to see that a political party is scaring parents, asking parents to sign a petition so that we can table an action plan that has already been tabled for two months,” she said.

The plan was tabled in committee at the National Assembly. “However, the committee is not making these documents public,” stressed spokesperson Béatrice Zacharie. Minister Roy's office nevertheless sent its game plan to Devoir.

Like the groups Valorisons ma profession and Ma place au travail, Joël Arseneau denounced the minister’s lack of transparency, as she did not publicize her plan. “If the minister [is] proud of her action plan, she should table it, because it is not public and no one here has seen it,” also said Solidarity MP Guillaume Cliche-Rivard during question period.

It should be noted that representatives from the three opposition parties questioned the government about child care services on Thursday.