A new Skills Training Certificate and regional investments

Assistance for those in private seniors’ residences program

Québec, May 17, 2018 – A new program, Assistance for those in private seniors’ residences, leading to a Skills Training Certificate (STC), has been established to meet private seniors’ residence attendants’ training needs. This new study program will represent a $4-million investment as of the upcoming school year.

The Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports and Minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale region, Sébastien Proulx, and the Minister of Health and Social Services, Gaétan Barrette, made the announcement today during their visit to the Centre de formation professionnelle Fierbourg in Charlesbourg.

Attendants working in private seniors’ residences provide assistance services to seniors who are independent, semi-independent or of decreasing independence. They help residents with activities of daily living, such as mobility or personal hygiene. Furthermore, they help residents protect themselves from infection and contamination, and ensure their well-being and safety.

Training for private seniors’ residence attendants has been mandatory since 2013. The new assistance for those in private seniors’ residences program is a 180-hour program.

$13.5 million over five years for training outside urban areas

Both ministers also took advantage of their visit to the Centre de formation professionnelle Fierbourg to announce two pilot projects to promote interregional student mobility and the implementation of new forms of training outside urban areas.

The first measure aims, in particular, to contribute to the vitality of training offered outside urban areas, mainly by promoting student mobility, on the one hand, to remote locations or areas with a declining population and, on the other hand, to school boards with declining vocational training enrolment numbers. For instance, a school board may offer scholarships or cover, in whole or in part, students’ tuition, housing, transportation or moving costs.

The second measure aims to support school boards with research and the implementation of new, innovative methods to deploy the training offered, in order to meet the unmet training needs. For example, school boards may combine their enrolments to have enough students for a cohort, which would better meet training needs. This measure could also help establish centres of expertise, made up of one or several school boards in the area, offering co-op training for related programs of study according to a predetermined schedule or even training programs on a rotating multi-year basis.

Quotes:

Thanks to the Assistance for those in private seniors’ residences Skills Training Certificate, we will be able to better meet labour market needs in this area. This is excellent news for the network, for private seniors’ residence attendants, who can be supported, for future students, who will receive quality training, and, of course, for the residents themselves.

– Sébastien Proulx, Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports and Minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale region

The attendants working with seniors are an indispensable part of the multidisciplinary health care team and the services offered within our network. Those who work in private residences play an essential role with the residents and are expected to be close to them, leading to positive, professional and trusting relationships. Both currently employed attendants and people who want to become attendants will be eligible for this new program. It will provide students with new knowledge and, thus, provide high-quality services to residents of private seniors’ residences.

– Gaétan Barrette, Minister of Health and Social Services

I am quite pleased with this news, which will benefit the entire population, including that of Charlesbourg. Private seniors’ residence attendants carry out tremendous work all throughout the province. The aging population increases labour needs. Our government is therefore taking concrete action to properly address them. I am happy for the students who will choose this career path at the Centre de formation professionnelle Fierbourg.

– François Blais, Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity and MNA for Charlesbourg

Key points

• These investments are part of the work carried out during the Rendez-vous national de la main-d’œuvre in February 2017 and the two-day discussion meeting on vocational training on February 5 and 6, 2018.
• The discussion meetings stem from the Policy on Educational Success, introduced in June 2017, which in particular includes the implementation of an action plan related to vocational training.
• Vocational training includes nearly 150 programs of study in 21 industries (e.g. mechanical manufacturing, food and tourism, health, agriculture, mining and forestry).
• There are 195 vocational training centres throughout Québec.
• In 2016–2017, more than 128,500 people were enrolled in vocational training programs.