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 non-legally qualified 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 non-legally qualified 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 …