Quebec Culture and Citizenship: Drainville relies on the new course to raise students' awareness of the French language
In addition to revising French language curricula, Minister Bernard Drainville is focusing on the new Culture and Quebec Citizenship course to raise students' awareness of the importance of the French language.
This new subject, which will replace Ethics and Religious Culture at the beginning of the school year in all Quebec schools, will address a range of diverse themes such as sexuality education, digital education, self-knowledge and civics,
as well as citizen participation, democracy and Quebec identity.
The Minister of Education believes that this course "will allow, among other things, to help our young people develop values of belonging to Quebec culture that can sometimes be neglected by the youngest," he said Monday at a conference organized by the Association professionnelle en culture et citoyenneté québécoise, referring to the French language.
"We saw it again last week when young people said that it was inconvenient [sic] for them to speak in French and that they did not understand why the school team was 'forcing' them to speak French in a French-language school," he added, alluding to articles published by Le Journal on the French language shunned by young people in some French-language schools.
"This is one of many observations that tells us that we must act to make our students aware of our identity and in particular of our language," he told a few hundred teachers and professionals from the education network gathered in Trois-Rivières.
Caution with Gender IdentityThe minister also urged them to "be careful" about the debates surrounding gender identity, which will be one of the topics addressed in sexuality education.
"We must know how to recognize that there is an objective reality, masculine and feminine at the moment of birth. And we must also recognize the reality of a young person who wants to begin a transition to reconcile his or her physical identity with his or her gender identity. Balance is important here," he said.
Mr. Drainville also reminded them that concepts such as secularism and equality between men and women, on which Quebec citizenship is based, are part of the mandatory content of the new course.
Quebec doesn't know if teachers are trainedHowever, Quebec has no idea how many professors have taken the training for Culture and Citizenship of Quebec, which is to be offered across the province starting in September. The Ministry of Education has simply not responded to our questions on this in the last month.
At the Montreal School Service Centre, some 3,900 teachers are called upon to teach this new subject. The trainings started last year and will continue according to the remaining pedagogical days between now and the end of the school year. But they are not imposed.
"Teachers have the professional autonomy to choose their training," says the CSS des Découvertes, in Quebec City.
This new subject, which will replace Ethics and Religious Culture at the beginning of the school year in all Quebec schools, will address a range of diverse themes such as sexuality education, digital education, self-knowledge and civics,
as well as citizen participation, democracy and Quebec identity.
The Minister of Education believes that this course "will allow, among other things, to help our young people develop values of belonging to Quebec culture that can sometimes be neglected by the youngest," he said Monday at a conference organized by the Association professionnelle en culture et citoyenneté québécoise, referring to the French language.
"We saw it again last week when young people said that it was inconvenient [sic] for them to speak in French and that they did not understand why the school team was 'forcing' them to speak French in a French-language school," he added, alluding to articles published by Le Journal on the French language shunned by young people in some French-language schools.
"This is one of many observations that tells us that we must act to make our students aware of our identity and in particular of our language," he told a few hundred teachers and professionals from the education network gathered in Trois-Rivières.
Caution with Gender IdentityThe minister also urged them to "be careful" about the debates surrounding gender identity, which will be one of the topics addressed in sexuality education.
"We must know how to recognize that there is an objective reality, masculine and feminine at the moment of birth. And we must also recognize the reality of a young person who wants to begin a transition to reconcile his or her physical identity with his or her gender identity. Balance is important here," he said.
Mr. Drainville also reminded them that concepts such as secularism and equality between men and women, on which Quebec citizenship is based, are part of the mandatory content of the new course.
Quebec doesn't know if teachers are trainedHowever, Quebec has no idea how many professors have taken the training for Culture and Citizenship of Quebec, which is to be offered across the province starting in September. The Ministry of Education has simply not responded to our questions on this in the last month.
At the Montreal School Service Centre, some 3,900 teachers are called upon to teach this new subject. The trainings started last year and will continue according to the remaining pedagogical days between now and the end of the school year. But they are not imposed.
"Teachers have the professional autonomy to choose their training," says the CSS des Découvertes, in Quebec City.
