Reaffirming the Mission of Our Schools A NEW DIRECTION FOR SUCCESS Report of the Task Force on Curriculum Reform

Contents

A Word from the Chair

Acknowledgments

June 16, 1997

The Honourable Pauline Marois
Minister of Education
Gouvernement du Québec
1035, rue De La Chevrotière, 16^e étage
Québec (Québec) G1R 5A5

Dear Madam Minister:

We are honoured to table our report, in accordance with the mandate you gave our Task Force on January 30, 1997.

In our mandate, you requested that we table, in June 1997, our recommendations “concerning the changes to be made to the elementary and secondary school curricula in order to satisfy the demands of the 21st century” and specified the points on which proposals for change were expected. We believe this report fully complies with your request.

Two concerns were constantly on our minds throughout the discussions and proceedings which led to the formulation of these recommendations. Our first concern was to provide a better quality education to QuŽbecÕs children and youth. Their intellectual and personal development hinges on our attaining this goal: with a better education, they will be better prepared to face the challenges ahead.

Our second concern was to address the calls for adjustments to the curriculum voiced by individuals, groups and organizations over the last ten years and more particularly during the hearings and sessions held as a part of the Estates General on Education. We feel that we have provided a satisfactory response to these demands. In some instances, the proposals we have made even imply substantial revisions to current practices.

It is with great pleasure that we submit a unanimous report.

Sincerely,

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When we agreed to sit on this Task Force, we knew, although we could not measure the scope of the challenge ahead of us, that we would be part of a tremendous team effort. Now that we have completed our mandate, we realize just how much our success depended on the support and expertise of our numerous collaborators.

Our work benefited from the advice and opinions of the many individuals and groups we consulted, who did not hesitate to answer our call. We wish to thank them sincerely for finding the time to work with us, and for sharing their knowledge and experience. These individuals and groups are named on the next page.

I would also like to express my appreciation of the exceptional contribution made by certain staff members of the ministère de l’Éducation: Francine Richard, who saw to the smooth running of the Task Force’s activities, drafted the minutes of our meetings, and was a great help in putting this report together; André Martin, whose knowledge of the history of education in Québec over the last 30 years was indispensable to us and whose analysis shed new light on many points; Jean Hénaire, who versed us in learning across the curriculum and in citizenship education; Johanne Forest, who, with tireless patience and perseverance, typed the various versions of this report and took care of a great many of our small problems, all with the greatest courtesy; and finally Paul Vachon, who, while he sat on this Task Force, also coordinated the work of these individuals and maintained close ties with the senior levels and other branches of the ministère de l'Éducation.

Without the collaboration of all of these individuals, we could not have tabled these proposals to "reaffirm the mission of our schools."

Paul Inchauspé

TASK FORCE ON CURRICULUM REFORM

Groups and Individuals Consulted and Contributors

Ministère de l’Éducation

• The officers in charge of program development
• The officers in charge of the evaluation of student learning
• The staff of the Direction de la formation et de la titularisation du personnel scolaire
• The staff of the Direction des relations de travail
• The management team of the Direction générale de la formation professionnelle et technique
• The team in charge of new technologies (Direction des ressources didactiques)
• The staff of the Direction des services aux anglophones
• The officer in charge of the committee on continuing education
• The officer in charge of the working group on the preschool education program
• The officer in charge of the working group on the intercultural education policy
• Luce Brossard, editor of the periodical Vie pédagogique
• Arthur Marsolais, of the Conseil supérieur de l’éducation

Conseil Supérieur de l’Éducation

• The members of the Catholic Committee
• The members of the Protestant Committee

Other Ministries and Organizations

• Ministère de la Culture et des Communications (André Couture and Fabienne Bilodeau)
• Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (Donald Brisson and Diane Rodier)
• A group of students and professors in the Faculty of Education, Université du Québec en Abitibi-
  Témiscamingue
• Conseil pédagogique interdisciplinaire
• A group of social studies education consultants from the Laval-Laurentides-Lanaudière region
• Regroupement de responsables pédagogiques d’écoles privées
• Advisory Board on English Education (Gretta Chambers)
• School principals with the Commission des écoles catholiques de Sherbrooke (Charlotte Sansot,
  école du Soleil Levant and Mario Duclos, école du Boisjoli)
• School principals in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region
• Service régional d’admission de Montréal (Jean-Pierre Bergeron, executive director)
• Janyne Hodder, principal, Bishop’s University