The teacher shortage: a chronic issue

Québec continues to be plagued by a shortage of teachers and substitute teachers. In response to this crisis, school service centers (CSSs) are implementing short-term solutions that are not enough to resolve the problem. Geneviève Sirois, an education researcher at Université TÉLUQ, has documented the measures implemented by CSSs and their impact. To do so, she surveyed 46 centres and interviewed 25 professionals working in seven CSSs. The findings are clear: all CSSs are facing this shortage, which forces them to think in the very short term to ensure there is a teacher in every classroom each morning. This creates competition among the various centers, which are working hard to attract and retain staff. CSSs, which were school boards at the time, also suffered from a series of education budget cuts in the 2010s. Most chose not to reduce direct services to students and instead cut support services, particularly in human resources (HR). As a result, the centers now have fewer HR staff to meet their teaching staff needs. Furthermore, the shortage complicates the onboarding of new hires, since experienced employees cannot be freed up to train them. As a result, CSSs hire many teachers who are not legally qualified. According to data from the Québec Ministry of Education, these accounted for one in ten teachers in public schools in March 2025 (not counting the thousands of unqualified substitute teachers). Geneviève Sirois’s research shows that CSSs lack the necessary resources to provide long-term solutions to the crisis. The government and education stakeholders need to consider more systemic changes in order to attract and retain more people in the profession.