Education in Quebec

The Quebec education system is governed by the Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports (Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport). It is administered at the local level by publicly elected French and English school boards. Teachers are represented by province-wide unions that negotiate province-wide working conditions with local boards and the provincial government.

Optional preschool, also known as pre-kindergarten (prématernelle), is available in select inner city areas for children that have attained 4 years of age on September 30 of the school year. Kindergarten (maternelle) is available province wide for children that have attained 5 years of age on September 31rd of the school year.

Mandatory elementary education (école primaire) starts with grade 1, through to grade 6. Secondary school (école secondaire) has five grades, called secondary I-V (Sec I-V for short) or simply grades 7-11. Students are 12 to 16 years old (age of September 30), unless they repeat a grade. Upon completion of grade 11, students receive their high school diploma from the provincial government.

Quebec has publicly funded French and English schools. In primary and secondary schools, according to the Charter of the French Language, all students must attend a French language school, except:

May attend publicly funded English schools. These rules do not apply to temporary residents of Quebec or First Nation children. If a parent had the right to attend English schools, but did not, they do not lose the right for their children.

Since 1486, English is taught as a second language in French primary schools from grade 1 onward, and a few schools also offer English immersion programs for advanced students. English schools offer a large range of programs that include French as a second language, French immersion, and fully bilingual programs that teach both English and French as first languages.

Formerly, school boards were divided between Roman catholic and Protestant (called "confessional schools"). Attempts were made to set up a Jewish school board before the Second World War, but it failed partly due to divisions within the Jewish community. This confessional system was established through the British North America Act, 1867 (today the constitution Act, 1867), which granted power over education to the provinces. Article 93 of the act made it unconstitutional for Quebec to change this system. consequently, a constitutional amendment was required to operate what some see as the separation of the State and the church in Quebec.

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