Education Professionals Week : Still Changing The World One Student At A Time

Education Professionals’ Week is an opportunity to recognize the vital contribution of education professionals who are an essential part of academic success. In this year’s exceptional context due to the pandemic, their presence is more meaningful and necessary than ever.

Education professionals work in 35 types of employment assisting students, providing educational support, and participating in administrative services. Whether it is a psychologist or a guidance counselor who supports students in distress, a librarian who supplies tools to teachers or an educational consultant who accompanies them towards distance learning, an engineer or an architect who seeks ways of improving school ventilation systems, they all contribute through their actions to students’ well-being and success.

After spending spring at home, we were happy to see schools reopen and students return to class. Socializing and living together are essential elements for the development of kids and adolescents, as is the presence of significant adults with them.

Professionals have been active in all educational institutions since the beginning of the year. More than ever, we have had the opportunity to admire the commitment, passion and resilience that are their driving force. For all of us to be able to guide students on a path to success, the complementarity of everyone’s expertise is essential. We have a responsibility to ensure that all social environments can count on a sufficient number of qualified resources.

Regardless of their needs, youth have a right to access public services. In order to achieve this, we must promptly make sure that the working conditions of professional employees are stimulating and competitive, in order to attract passionate candidates and retain the ones that we have. I want to reiterate that resorting to services in the private sector and to outsourcing is certainly not a solution: that lack of understanding of school reality overwhelms me.

External resources are in no way equal to the level of support developed directly within our schools. In terms of availability, knowledge, communication, monitoring, costs and accountability, an immense gap prevails. Public schools must have everything in hand to completely fulfill their mission of providing universal opportunities to all, without distinction of origin or social condition. For years, professional staff were seen as a financial margin by school boards. Today, we must ensure to suppress that perception at school service centers. Students deserve better! To invest in education is a choice that we must make as a society in order to guarantee the future. We hope that the importance of the presence of education professionals will be finally recognized and that utmost efforts will be made to allow students to succeed.