News from AQED’s Public and Government Relations Committee

The Public and Government Relations Committee participated in an inter-association meeting with the DEM. Here are the highlights:

Learn Qc

The DEM is taking steps in understanding the reasons following the news that homeschoolers in the English-speaking community can no longer take advantage of Learn Qc’s services, in particular online courses for Secondary 4 and 5 subjects. According to their understanding and the message received by parents, the directive came from the ministry. AQED is also investigating in the matter.

Ministerial Exams

Regarding our questioning of the fact that the regulations have not been updated, the DEM maintains that each family is responsible for being aware of the 2019 decree and that the PR can also inform the families concerned. Beyond the non-update of the regulation, AQED maintains that, given the lack of information regarding the preparation and taking of the exam itself (which will be decided by each CSS and

therefore different from one CSS to another), the obligation of the ministerial exams should not go into effect this year.

Currently, it is up to each family to make the choice to voluntarily declare whether their child is due to take a ministerial exam. We do not yet know what will actually happen if a family does not declare that their child should take a ministry exam, whether preparation for the exams will be offered, what form it may take, or what the procedures for taking the exams will be, including accommodation requests. But we will support each family in their choice to the best of our ability.

The fact that some school boards (SB) request a copy of the learning project from the families under the pretext that it is necessary for writing ministerial exams was also raised. Although the DEM responded that the SBs must ensure the child’s level, we consider that it is rather the responsibility of the resource person to ensure the compliance of the LP. Thus, please note that section 24 of the Homeschooling Regulation Education Act states that: Parents who make a request under section 20, 21 or 23.1must provide the school service centre that has jurisdiction with the student’s learning project. Ministerial testing is part of section 23 and is therefore not affected by the requirement to provide the learning project.

The DEM is working on the development of a request form for exam accommodations.

A letter from the Deputy Minister will be sent to school boards regarding their legal obligations.

Number of Homeschooled Children

As of today, more than 8500 children are enrolled with the DEM for the year 2021-2022. This number is growing daily.