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Quebec, Canada

Instruction for Mathematics and Science in Primary and Lower Secondary Grades

Grade at Which Specialist Teachers for Mathematics and Science are Introduced

Students are taught by subject specialists in most courses beginning in the first year of secondary school (Secondary I).

Instructional Materials, Equipment, and Laboratories

Teachers are encouraged to use MEESR-approved instructional materials. However, teachers are not limited to prescribed pedagogical approaches or instructional resources; they are free to develop their own learning environments, pedagogical approaches, problems, and resources, and to determine how students will use these resources. The MEESR provides funding as necessary to update laboratories and workshops to help students develop competencies in science and technology.

Use of Technology

The Québec Education Program for elementary school and Secondary Cycle I provides for the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). For more than a dozen years, the MEESR has been working to set up a directory of teaching resources, including the following:

The MEESR provides financial support for RÉCIT, a network of resource people devoted to the integration of ICT into teaching in Québec schools. RÉCIT fulfils its mandate primarily by offering training, support, and guidance for teachers, and by developing a culture of networking and sharing. The MEESR also subsidizes upgrading schools’ technology resources. While many other initiatives exist, these are the most common.

Accommodation Policies for Instruction and Testing

In Québec, many students with special education needs are integrated into regular classes in accordance with the Policy on Special Education9 and the Action Plan to Promote Success for Students with Handicaps, Social Maladjustments, or Learning Difficulties.10

Differentiated instruction is the best way of fostering the success of all students, including those with special needs (Québec Education Program).

The basic orientation of the Policy on Special Education, Adapting Our Schools to the Needs of All Students, is defined as follows: “to help students with handicaps or social maladjustments or learning disabilities succeed in terms of knowledge, social development, and qualifications, by accepting that educational success has different meanings depending on the abilities and needs of different students.”

For students with special education needs, adaptive measures may be adopted as part of their individualized education plan. Individualized education plan committees made up of educators, parents, and students in question are responsible for implementing these measures and monitoring their suitability and efficacy. Adaptive measures provide all students in a class with access to the same learning and opportunities to demonstrate their learning.

Students with special education needs may benefit from an individualized progression of learning approach in certain subjects that would differ from the one set out in the Québec Education Program. The decision regarding learning approach is made jointly, and on a case-by-case basis, during the development of students’ individualized education plan, when expectations concerning the requirements of the Québec Education Program are adapted to students’ abilities and needs. The objective of this support measure is to ensure the continuous progression of learning and optimal development for students.

Adaptive measures for facilitating the integration of these students can involve a range of elements, including working environment, conditions under which activities are carried out, and support provided for reading, writing, or arithmetic. This assistance enables students to perform the cognitive and metacognitive actions that allow them to acquire the required learning or to demonstrate their learning in an autonomous manner.

The following adaptive measures, described in a ministerial framework, may be implemented during ministerial examinations:11

  • Extending the time allotted for examinations
  • Providing for the presence of an attendant (e.g., an interpreter or invigilator)
  • Allowing students to use reading aids (e.g., voice synthesizers) and writing aids (e.g., grammar and spelling software and word prediction software)
  • Allowing students to use a computer within certain parameters
  • Allowing students to use various writing implements
  • Allowing students who are not able to write to use a tape recorder to record their answers verbally
  • Allowing students to use a reading aid such as a monitor, magnifying glass, or inclined reading stand
  • Allowing students to take examinations in an isolated location, with supervision