Nunavik teachers fear violence, verbal abuse

Physical violence and verbal abuse in the classroom top the concerns cited by Nunavik teachers in a survey conducted late last year by the Northern Quebec Teachers Association.

The survey reached 266 of the region’s 330 teachers working in every Nunavik community, except for Kuujjuaraapik and Aupaluk.

“There was a lot of anger and despair in November and a desire for the union to act in a strong fashion,” said union president Patrick d’Astous. “We needed to have the most complete portrait possible in order to change conditions, so we decided to launch this survey.”

However, D’Astous said that, overall, the comments received through the survey were less critical and more constructive than the union had anticipated.

“It was less bleak than we expected,” he said. “I realized that we could achieve some positive action, we wouldn’t have to start from scratch and that we could work with what we have to improve conditions.”

Areas needing attention, which were cited by nuit and Qallunaat teachers alike, included:

* Violence and verbal abuse;
* Changing of the school calendar;
* Teacher retention;
* Involvement of parents and community;
* Support for special needs students;
* Security;
* Administrative support.

Three in four Qallunaat teachers said verbal abuse is one of their main concerns, and about half said physical abuse was a big problem.

However, only about four in 10 Inuit teachers felt as strongly about the levels of violence and verbal abuse in the schools.

Overall, 73 per cent of the teachers mentioned violence and 47 per cent put verbal abuse as top concerns.

D’Astous attributes the differences between Inuit and Qallunaat teachers in their responses to the fact that most Inuit teachers work at the elementary level, where children are less violent and generally better behaved.

And Inuit teachers, he suggested, may be less comfortable criticizing the region’s school system.

The union submitted a detailed package of the teachers’ comments to the Kativik School Board, suggesting the following actions:

* A global intervention plan on violence throughout the school system, with clear consequences and a centralized office to deal with incidents: “local decision-making puts too much pressure on the local administration;”
* Hallway guardians in each school;
* A return to a shorter school calendar by changing the length of daily teaching time and the number of planning days;
* A unified community action plan on schools;
* Lobbying for more money for special needs students;
* Standardized production and correction of material and exams;
* Breakfast club in every school;
* Employees’ 24-hour help line.

Concerns over the school calendar date back to 2004, when school board commissioners decided to add 10 days of classes, extending the school year from early June to later that month.

The union says the longer school year gives Inuit teachers who attend teacher-training courses during the summer little break time between work and the start of summer school. The union also says student absenteeism rises as June progresses, and success in final exams drop.

The union has asked to add a few minutes a day to class-time during the year, and drop one planning day, so that school ends once again in early June.

D’Astous said the KSB still has shown little interest in changing the school calendar, but reacted positively to many other suggestions, including the establishment of a help line, centralized disciplinary office and breakfast programs.

D’Astous said he hopes the union and the KSB can join forces to work together to pressure the provincial education department for more money and resources.

“We want to work with the school board, so we can start now, or as soon as possible, to tackle these problems.”