Renewed Collective Agreement Focused on Innovation and Modernity for LaSalle College Teachers
Last October, the teachers at LaSalle College Montréal unanimously adopted their new collective agreement. This agreement, which is another groundbreaking initiative in the world of higher education, offers many advantages to not only the College’s teachers but also its students, particularly in terms of working conditions and e-learning.
In its previous agreement, LaSalle College was the first to define intellectual property and copyright guidelines. This time, the College, a leader in college education in Québec, is proud to work with its roughly 400 teachers to offer them yet another groundbreaking agreement that provides flexibility, is aligned with employers’ needs, and is geared towards modern teaching.
This new agreement stands out for its innovative and evolving definition of what e-learning can offer, its advantageous working conditions and pay, as well as its greater appreciation for the teaching profession.
"Our teachers have chosen to venture into the modern world with this agreement, and we are very proud of that. LaSalle College is once again taking a bold step forward in the private education sector." —Claude Marchand, CEO and President, LaSalle College Montréal.
The first educational institution to forge ahead in all forms of remote learning
As a pioneer in remote learning in Québec for over 20 years, LaSalle College has once again set itself apart by being the first college to implement the winning conditions for online teaching. From now on, thanks to this new agreement, the five methods of instruction offered by LaSalle College will be able to evolve to adapt freely and agilely to changing teaching technologies. This agreement supports a major investment that has been made to equip many of our classrooms with state-of-the-art technologies that meet the quality needs of students and teachers.
This major step forward in the conditions for all forms of e-learning provides a modern work environment supported by state-of-the-art technologies for teachers and also offers them attractive flexibility in terms of schedules, methods of instruction, and location.
"Very early in the pandemic, our extensive experience in e-learning made it possible for us to continue teaching the day after the lockdown. Since then, we have continued to improve educationally and to equip ourselves with the best technologies. Today, we can be proud of the success of our hyflex courses and the flexibility we can offer both our teachers and our students, whether they are on campus or online", adds Jean-Philippe Bastien, COO Quebec & Delegate Managing Director of LaSalle College Montréal.
Competitive working conditions and pay
In addition to the increased flexibility in teaching schedules, methods, and location that the e-learning guidelines of the agreement allow, this new collective agreement introduces many advantages in terms of working conditions for LaSalle College’s teachers.
Teachers can now benefit from voluntarily reduced working hours and greater flexibility in terms of schedule adjustments and arrangements, especially to better accommodate parents.
The agreement also provides one of the most competitive pay scales for teachers, meaning they can earn up to twice as much as they would at other private colleges.
In a climate of labor shortages, these kinds of benefits enable the College to attract quality talent and retain existing staff.
Greater appreciation for the teaching profession
Lastly, the new collective agreement at LaSalle College stands out for the greater educational freedom it grants to teachers in terms of the content taught in class.
To facilitate this educational independence, and to enable teachers to stay current in their industry and in best teaching practices, LaSalle College invests $1 million for teacher professional development, over and above the required 1% spending, by offering them a discretionary annual budget for training.
What’s more, LaSalle College teachers enjoy more office hours to dedicate to students and smaller groups compared to public classrooms, so they can provide better supervision for greater student success.
