The PQ government is planning to beef up the nationalism quotient in Quebec high school history classes.
The education minister says it's time to reconnect students with the historical framework that led to Quebec nationalism.
Marie Malavoy says the new curriculum won’t be politically charged, and will be inclusive, looking at how First Nations peoples, Francophones, Anglophones and allophones came together to “build our nation.”
A pilot project to test the new course material in 90 Grade 9 (Sec. III) classes, including at a handful of English schools, will start in September.
High school history teacher Sergio Greco says the current curriculum is already well-stocked with Quebec nationalism, and that many of his students have picked up on that theme.
“There's always that recurring theme where it's you know the French were dominated, It's a constant struggle for them to protect their language, their rights,” he said.
McGill professor Mary Anne Poutanen says Quebec high school history should cover much more than the conflict between the French and the English.
It’s a conflict, she said, that is “devoid of issues around class, issues around gender, and issues around race and ethnicity, and those are important elements to include in a study of Quebec history.”
The recommendations come out of a consultation process that kicked off last November.
A panel of two experts found the current curriculum is vague and that kids find it boring.
Malavoy said the plan isn't part of an electoral strategy -- but rather is the product of the consultation process, which included input from the general public as well as from experts.
When the consultation was announced, Malavoy said the panel would attempt to address what she said is a general dissatisfaction with the teaching of the province’s history.
“If they want to be Quebecers, they have to know where Quebec comes from and how we built Quebec and what are the debates we have in Quebec, so I think they are very much concerned by the history of Quebec,” she said.
The panel also recommended a committee be struck in the future to figure out how to teach Quebec history to elementary school students.
If all goes according to plan, grade 9 and 10 students across the province will be taught the new curriculum by Sept. 2016