Tough lesson: Thousands of unqualified teachers in Quebec schools [Video]

Monique Henry has been teaching English in Quebec for the better part of two decades without official certification. As a so-called “unqualified” teacher, she has had to learn her profession the hard way.

When she started teaching in 2006 she struggled with unruly students. As she never completed a university education program, she didn’t learn classroom management techniques.

“You kind of just do it on the fly and learn with time,” said Henry, 46, who teaches English as a second language at a high school in St-Jérôme, Que., on a yearlong contract. “There’s no one to help you out . … If you have a problem, you’re kind of on your own.”

Henry is one of a growing number of unqualified teachers in Quebec schools who, education experts say, the provincial government is increasingly reliant on as the teaching shortage gets worse, putting the quality of education at risk and …