Every student has the right to educational services that foster their success. The Protecteur du citoyen investigated to determine whether the services provided to special-needs students are responsive.
Adapting educational services, in a nutshell
- Services must be adapted based on students’ needs.
- Adapted services are often provided by specialized staff: speech therapists, special education technicians, remedial teachers, psychologists, etc.
- Adapted educational services enable students with special learning or adaptation needs to be integrated in mainstream classes.
Findings of the investigation
The Protecteur du citoyen is worried about the difficulties students with special learning or adaptation needs have accessing adapted services. Here are its main findings.
1. Services are not always based on student needs.
Instead of being established based on students’ real needs, the services provided are often limited by financial constraints. The Ministère de l’Éducation also asks specialized staff to account for a portion of the amounts issued. While bogged down in paperwork, staff are not always available to offer services to the students.
2. Not enough specialized staff
There are not always enough specialized staff in schools to meet the needs of all students. This means that some students have a long wait before they receive services that are necessary. For others, the services are provided by staff who don’t have the best training for the job.
3. Lack of collaboration among those involved.
To foster student success, every member of the school team must play their role and coordinate their actions. However, ideal work conditions rarely exist.
4. The professional development of teaching staff stands to be improved.
Teaching staff play an important role in early screening for difficulties students may have. To do this, they must have a firm grasp of special student needs. However, university training in education has little to say about this subject.
Recommendations
The Protecteur du citoyen made several recommendations to the Ministère de l’Éducation, including:
- Reviewing the way services are financed so funding is based on the real needs of students.
- Encouraging collaboration so that action by the school team is better coordinated.
- Enhancing professional development concerning students with special needs so that teaching staff are better equipped for the job.
Read the report’s summary: Putting students first (PDF, 173 KiB)
Read the full report, including the summary (in French only): L’élève avant tout : pour des services adaptés aux besoins des élèves en difficulté d’adaptation ou d’apprentissage (PDF, 983 KiB)
