As teachers, we need to be aware of the curriculum we are teaching. It is in my experience that teachers do not talk about curriculum as much as we probably should (considering everything we teach is supposed to be based on it). The lack of conversation is on a whole new level when it comes to the curriculum Quebec and the Ministry of Education designed. I would argue that many teachers don’t even know the main components of the QEP.
That’s why today I’m sharing 5 things you need to know when it comes to understanding the curriculum “Quebec Education Program.”
If you’re an elementary ELA teacher in Quebec, you need to download my QEP Competencies Handbook! I created an easy-to-use checklist so you can clearly see what skills you need to teach based on the competency and the cycle! Click here to download!
#1-Competencies vs skills
The QEP, or Quebec Education Program, includes a set of competencies for each subject area. Quebec’s QEP document defines competency as “a set of behaviours based on the effective mobilization and use of a range of resources.”
In other mandated curriculum, the term “standards” or “skills” are often used. So what’s the difference between competencies and skills?
Competencies are the knowledge and behaviours that lead you to be successful. Whereas skills are specific learned abilities that you will require in order to be successful.
You can think of skills as the ‘what’ and competencies as the ‘how’. For example, a soccer player would have skills such as kicking, dribbling, speed, etc… A soccer player’s competencies could include exercising confidence and stress tolerance to effectively make use of soccer skills in relation to his/her teammates.
The QEP outlines many skills within each competency. For example, the competency “To read and listen to literary, popular and information-based texts”, skills that students must have include:
- Develops a range of favourite text types from which s/he constructs meaning
- Develops and uses a repertoire of meaning-making strategies
- Begins to acknowledge and support different interpretations of the same text
Why is this worth knowing? I think it’s important to have the proper language for when you are in interviews, staff meetings and parent interviews. I also think it’s helpful to think of the standards as the ‘what’ and the competencies as the ‘how’ for when you are planning. Click here to download my QEP Competencies Handbook!
#2-The Curriculum Quebec’s MEES designed is in Cycles
When reading the QEP document, you will notice that nowhere does it refer to competencies within a grade. Instead, the competencies are taught throughout cycles. In the elementary grades, there are 3 cycles. Cycle 1 (grades 1 and 2), Cycle 2 (grades 3 and 4) and Cycle 3 (grades 5 and 6). Why is this? The QEP was designed this way so that students would have two years to master the skills within each competency.
The idea is that the first grade in the cycle will introduce the skills within each competency, and the 2nd year is when students will solidify these skills. The hope is by the end of Cycle 3, students have all 4 competencies because they have learned and gained all of the skills required.
This is important to know so that you can set expectations for yourself, your teaching and your students. For example, if I am teaching Grade 3, I know that students are new to the skills I am required to teach. However, if I am a 4th-grade teacher, I know that students have already been introduced to the skills, and I need to ensure they meet all of the expectations by the end of the year.
#3-Subject-Specific Competencies
For the Elementary ELA portion of the QEP, there are 4 main competencies.
- 1:To read and listen to literary, popular and information-based texts
- 2:To write self-expressive, narrative, and information-based texts
- 3:To represent her/his literacy in different media
- 4:To use language to communicate and learn
Within each competency are skills that you as the teacher need to teach your students. You will assess students on these competencies.
Not an ELA teacher? Click here to check out the other subject-specific competencies.
Click here to download my QEP Competencies Handbook
#4-Cross-Curricular Competencies Within the Curriculum Quebec
Along with the subject-specific competencies, there are cross-curricular competencies. These are competencies that are to be taught throughout all the subject courses. They include:
- Use Information
- Solve Problems
- Exercise critical judgement
- Use creativity
- Adopt effective work methods
- Use information and communication technologies
- Construct his/her identity
- Cooperate with others
- Communicate appropriately
These competencies are skills that you are most likely already using in your classroom. However, it is important to be mindful of what these competencies are.
#5-Report card weightings for Curriculum Quebec
The competencies listed above will be used to assess your students and to help you write their report cards. The weightings of each competency are shown below.
As you can see, there are 4 competencies, yet the students’ grades are divided based on 3 weightings. That is because the media and writing competency are combined for the sake of report cards. Why this is? I don’t completely know. I personally will still teach these competencies separately, as the skills for each are different.
Click here to check out my blog post about assessments!
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this post has been helpful to you when it comes to better understanding the QEP curriculum Quebec teachers need to use.
Still, confused? Comment below with “I’m still confused!” and let’s chat about it.
PS-Don’t forget to grab your free QEP Competencies Handbook before leaving! Click here to download!
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