The academic progress of students in difficulty risks being compromised if the learning delays caused by distance education during the pandemic are not made up for by effective remedial measures, notes the Auditor General.
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Guylaine Leclerc has released the December 2022 volume of the Report of the Auditor General of Quebec to the National Assembly for the year 2022-2023.
The chief auditor notes that the closure of schools and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to learning delays, more particularly for young people with learning difficulties or at risk of dropping out.
“These delays, if they are not made up for by effective remedial measures, risk compromising the educational progress of these young people and depriving them of a diploma”, notes Ms.me Leclerc.
Insufficient knowledge
The AG also notes that the Ministry of Education does not have a good knowledge of learning delays, and that this hinders it in implementing appropriate remedial measures.
However, various studies anticipated such delays, from the first confinement, notes Mme Leclerc, who considers that the ministry could have done something to have a more complete portrait of the situation.
For example, the cancellation of ministerial tests at the end of the 2019-2020 school year and the 2020-2021 school year deprived the ministry and school service centers of standardized learning comparison data.
“The budgetary distribution of tutoring measures for learning support did not sufficiently consider the needs of pupils,” the report states.
The VG therefore recommends that the MEQ and the CSS take stock of the decisions made during the pandemic in order to learn from them, and to do the necessary follow-up to have a complete portrait of learning delays.
On this basis, the ministry should, according to Ms. Leclerc, put in place the necessary remedial measures.
Insufficient technological support
She also notes that 18 months after the pandemic, some school service centers (CSS) still did not have all the computers needed for online teaching in the event of school closures, and that the technological support provided by the Ministry of Education has been “insufficient”.
“One challenge faced by CSSs is the lack of knowledge of students, parents, and teachers about the technologies used in online teaching. This challenge was all the greater since, even before the pandemic, technical support for establishments was already deficient,” reads the 208-page document.
Poor supervision of the MEQ
In addition, Ms. Leclerc notes that the educational services offered in the spring of 2020, when the pandemic was in full swing, were limited, in particular due to the “poor supervision of the MEQ” which resulted in “very variable” services from a service center. school to another.
“The MEQ was slow to issue clear directives to the CSS in order to specify the minimum educational services to be offered at the elementary and secondary levels”.
Unjustified equipment purchases
The VG also points out that the purchase of $42 million in videoconferencing devices was made without sufficient analysis, and notes that “these devices have remained little or not used”.
These devices were intended to allow “comodal” teaching to secondary school students, but they were not used much “for ethical reasons”.
“Anyone outside the class, such as the parents of the students or their family members, could have access to personal information to be protected, such as learning difficulties or images of the students’ living environment”, is- it stated in the report.
The AG therefore recommends that the Ministry of Education carry out an “adequate needs analysis” and consult users before each acquisition of equipment.
Hydro-Quebec
Guylaine Leclerc devotes another chapter of her report to the maintenance of Hydro-Québec assets. Pointing out that demand for electricity is on the rise and will continue to rise for the next few years, the VG notes that the reliability of the service “shows a marked decline”, and that its plan to reduce outages has only been partially implemented. work.
“The Crown corporation is not adequately equipped to face the growing challenge of the aging of its assets, writes Ms. Leclerc, and a significant part of the preventive maintenance efforts that it must carry out have not been accomplished.”
Highlights
- “Even before the pandemic, technical support for establishments was already deficient.”
- “Some school service centers still did not have all the computers needed for online teaching in the event that all of their schools closed after 18 months of the pandemic.”
- In the spring of 2020, “the Ministry of Education was slow to issue clear directives to school service centers in order to specify the minimum educational services to be offered at the elementary and secondary levels”.
- “The Ministry of Education was unable to provide us with either the analysis or the recommendation justifying the announcement of the investment” of $42 million for videoconferencing devices.
- “The distribution of funding for tutoring measures has not been made according to the needs of the pupils.”
Excerpts from the December 2022 volume of the Report of the Auditor General of Québec to the National Assembly