Quebec home school educators denounce lack of services

A growing number of Canadian families are choosing to home-school their children, according to a new study from the Fraser Institute.

On the eve of the new school year, homeschooling families feel they do not have access to the resources and services to which they are entitled, an issue that will be addressed at an annual conference on Sept. 7 at Collège Jean-Eudes in Montreal.

The Association québécoise pour l'éducation à domicile (AQED), a non-profit organization that provides support to homeschooling families in Quebec, says that some families are unable to access resources and services through school service centres.

In Quebec, the regulation respecting homeschooling, which stems from the Education Act, provides a framework for educating families and sets out some of the conditions and procedures that must be met before a child can be educated in this way.

The relatively recent regulation also sets out the support and supervision that school boards and school service centres (CSS) must provide for these children.

However, according to recent surveys carried out by AQED among its members, more than a third of the 196 families responding confirmed that they had been refused at least one service guaranteed by law. More than a third of the families also said that the cumbersome procedures involved in accessing a service had discouraged them.

The AQED maintains that it finds itself in a double bind, being accountable to the Ministry of Education but having to approach CSSs for services.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 22, 2024.