For several years, family-work-study balance (CFTE) has become a real societal issue. A significant portion of the student population in Quebec must deal with parental and family responsibilities, in addition to having a job. Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay, professor at the School of Administration at TÉLUQ University, studied the measures and initiatives of Quebec universities and CEGEPs aimed at helping students reconcile family, work and studies.
It was at the request of the Ministry of Higher Education that Professor Tremblay looked into the offer to student parents to help them successfully complete their studies. She noted that it is rather difficult to quantify the number of parent-students since few establishments offer to identify themselves as such at registration.
“About 5% of universities and 26% of CEGEPs identify student parent status. But that does not necessarily mean that measures go with this status, ”she explains.
Among the advantages that are sometimes possible, but informal to obtain in certain cases, she cites retakes of exams and postponements of the date of submission of work. “At Teluq University, this kind of arrangement is more formal since our students take online courses remotely. The student who extends his course does not change anything for the teacher. While on a campus, it is more difficult to make an arrangement with the professor.
Good practices to share
In Quebec, the issue of work-family balance has been discussed for a good fifteen years. More than in English Canada and more than in France, according to Ms. Tremblay. “It’s something that is quite strong in social discourse. However, the study dimension is clearly less present. The idea here is therefore to make known the good practices made by certain establishments.
According to his research, the measures currently in place in certain places are: on-site daycare (76% of establishments), offers of financial assistance, scholarships and specific discounts (39% of universities and 19% of CEGEPs), activities organized between student parents and service offers for them (44% of universities, 26% in CEGEPs), discussion groups and events, help for student parents for newcomers (rare, but interesting), priority parking, food aid, clothing donations and used book banks.
The status of parent-student would therefore benefit from being more widespread since it would give the institution and the professor, who is faced with a request for a delay, for example, to be comforted by knowing that the student’s situation is truly particular.
“If we look at the data, young people work at the same time as their studies. It is an issue. The measures have an impact on the success and continuation of studies.”
As the trend is on the rise, one may wonder if these measures are sufficient. “There should be more awareness, but at the same time it’s difficult to transfer all the responsibility to the educational establishments. Employers also have to do their part and with the current labor shortage, they don’t have much choice to ease up. In fact, what is unfortunate and problematic is that employers will make an effort when the employee’s work is deemed very satisfactory. As a result, there may be a bit of arbitrariness. It is also necessary that the student wonders about his real availability for his studies. Many only do a class or two per session to manage to coordinate everything. In short, everyone has an interest in developing the skills of Quebecers in the context of a labor shortage.
In addition to the report, three informative podcasts that address challenges faced by student parents are available on https://cfte.teluq.ca/.
More and more mothers are raising their children alone in Quebec. The mono moms challenge is aimed at these women and aims to help them meet their particular challenges.
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