Equality and inclusion at the elementary level

While education can be a vehicle for change and contribute to achieving gender equality, the school system can also reproduce inequalities and often reflects inequalities in society. Whilst our overview of education in the region provides a fairly comprehensive picture of the issue based on the available data, this section sets out the key points to bear in mind when it comes to creating inclusive educational environments.

 

Gender equality

According to the 2022 Quebec Survey on Child Development in Kindergarten (EQDEM), boys in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands are proportionally more likely than girls to be vulnerable in the areas of ‘social skills,’ ‘emotional maturity,’ and ‘communication skills and general knowledge’ [1]. In addition, by the time they enter primary school, boys have generally developed greater gross motor skills than girls, while girls have better fine motor skills. These differences cannot be explained by cognitive differences in the brain, but rather by the different educational experiences that children have, which lead them to progress more in certain areas of development than others, depending on their gender.

According to a study conducted in several primary schools in the Quebec City region, “all boys have internalised a model of masculinity based on traditional stereotypes. According to these stereotypes, a boy must be athletic, undisciplined, indifferent to academic results and able to defend himself. Boys who refuse to conform to this model are excluded from the group. [2]” According to the study, ”behaviours perceived as masculine boost the self-esteem of most boys and make them popular with their peers, but they distance them from academic success and lock them into a limiting mould. [2]”

As for girls, several studies show that even those as young as 7 would like to be slimmer: at this age, they can already identify a part of their body that they wish to improve [3]. From the start of primary school, they also have lower self-confidence and underestimate their abilities [4]. This is where the phenomenon of the ‘stereotype threat’ comes into play. ‘Take, for example, a class of 11- to 13-year-olds about to take a test measuring spatial reasoning skills. If the test is presented as a geometry exercise, boys’ scores are on average higher than girls’. But if the teacher announces that it is a drawing test, then the girls outperform the boys! (Massa et al., 2005). This experiment and many others show just how much girls dread geometry exercises. They consciously internalise the prejudice that they are not good at maths [5].”

In addition to these differences in the educational experiences of girls and boys, stemming from very strong gendered socialisation from childhood onwards, there is a rise in misogyny, homophobia and transphobia in schools [6], which negatively affects the school climate, the level of inclusion within the educational environment and girls’ sense of safety at school.

 

2SLGBTQ+ communities

With the rise of far-right and masculinist rhetoric, particularly on social media and other online platforms, there has been a noticeable resurgence of homophobia and transphobia in Quebec in recent years. This trend observed in the field has also been confirmed by the most recent annual study by GRIS-Montréal, which surveyed more than 35,000 secondary school students in several regions of Quebec [7]. The study found that “33.8% of respondents said they would feel uncomfortable if they learned that their best friend was a lesbian—a marked increase from 2017–2018, when the same proportion was 15.2%. For a gay friend, the proportion is even more pronounced: 24.7% in 2017, compared to 40.4% in 2024.

While these new data are unprecedented in Quebec for GRIS, they are not entirely surprising. At a time when masculinist rhetoric is rampant, from social media to the highest political spheres, it is predictable that more and more young people will be influenced by it.” [8]

 

Neurodiversity

Teachers in the region are generally well informed about the various diagnoses associated with neurodiversity and teach students with learning disabilities to the best of their ability. However, interventions targeting neurodiverse students, such as those with ADHD, autism or dyslexia, often involve accommodations that create an excessive workload for teaching staff. Rather than accumulating accommodations, Maude Ouellet, an occupational therapist at the Centre de services scolaires René-Lévesque who supports the Teaching Equality project, recommends taking proactive measures based on a universal design for learning, which allows us to start from the margins with methods that are ultimately good for everyone. However, this method is not practised everywhere in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands, and much work remains to be done to overcome prejudices and address the fears and resistance of school teams who rightly wish to avoid an excessive workload.

 

Immigration

Like other regions of Quebec, Gaspésie and the Magdalen Islands have seen a marked increase in recent years in the number of immigrants, many of whom arrive with their children or with the intention of starting a family. As a result, more immigrant students are being welcomed into schools. However, there are very few teachers who are immigrants or racialized, which leads to situations where a lack of sensitivity and blind spots on racial issues are noted among staff, students, parents and staff members who are immigrants or racialized.

Local organisations that welcome and support immigrants mentioned that many students experience culture shock and challenges in learning the language. Immigrant parents also reported that their children are monitored more closely by teaching staff and that rules are applied differently to racialized students for the same behaviour, causing immigrant children to experience minority stress, which undermines their self-esteem, learning and inclusion in the community.

 

Mi’gmaq

Not all children from the Mi’gmaq communities of Listuguj and Gesgapegiag attend schools in their communities (Gespeg has no reserve territory, so no community school). Many parents choose to send their children to French- or English-language schools in the region, which leads to more diverse classrooms and encourages teaching staff to develop their intercultural skills. The Inter-Community Harmony Project, launched in Listuguj and Pointe-à-la-Croix in 2002 and implemented between 2019 and 2021 in Gesgapegiag and New Richmond, has enabled the English-speaking, Mi’gmaq and French-speaking communities to get to know each other better. According to interviews with parents and individuals involved in the school system, there is still a lack of knowledge about history from an Indigenous perspective among staff, and anti-racism skills need to be developed.

 

An intersectional feminist analysis

To create inclusive educational environments, a gender-based analysis from an intersectional perspective (GBA+) can be used. This involves examining various aspects of our environment (teaching practices, extracurricular activities, books used, role models presented, interactions with pupils, etc.) in relation to pupils’ gender, and then adding other identity-related factors linked to systemic inequalities.

To help understand the multiple realities of identity, the GÎM Feminist Roundtable has produced a wheel of inequalities, which presents different axes of oppression and privilege, depending on whether the situations experienced lead to greater power or marginalisation.

Educational institutions can receive training and support from the GÎM Feminist Roundtable to familiarise themselves with this tool and use it to improve inclusion within their organisations.