Janet Bagnall, The Gazette

Photograph by: Allen McInnis , The Gazette

Salaries have stagnated. After investing 17 years in their education, teachers in Quebec today are paid between $36,000 and $74,000 a year, for an average $54,000. That’s slightly less, Tardif said, than what the two other major female-dominated professions, nursing and social work, are paid. Move the comparison to male-dominated workforces — police departments and bus driver unions — and teachers’ earnings pale in comparison. After five years on the job, police officers earn more than $68,000, and a bus driver in Montreal makes almost $55,000 after three years. As if adding salt to the wound, Tardif pointed out to his audience that teachers in Quebec are paid about 17 per cent less than teachers in the rest of the country.

Teachers’ “consolation prize” is supposed to be job security and long vacations, Tardif said.

“But only 55 per cent of teachers in Quebec are eligible for either.”

In Quebec, about 55,000 teachers have permanent positions; 20,000 are on short-term contracts; 16,000 are called in as needed to do replacement work or other tasks. There is a high turnover of teachers in the province, Tardif said.

“In a Montreal high school, in a single year Grade 10 students will be taught math by five or six different teachers. And in underprivileged neighbourhoods, the teacher turnover is very intense.” Teachers want out, Tardif said. He cited studies showing that half of Quebec teachers have thought of leaving the profession. Twenty-one per cent have already taken time off.