The content of AQED's website and the documents on it are the result of important reflection and are based on our interpretation of the law and the regulation on homeschooling.
Our position has been influenced in part by the provincial roundtable discussions on homeschooling (Table de concertation nationale en matière d’enseignement à la maison) in which AQED participated (suspended since 2018). We also consulted with other associations and community centers that support family educators in Quebec, as well as home education experts. We studied what is done in other jurisdictions. We spoke on several occasions with various lawyers, including those from the Société d’avocats Morency, experts in education law, who gave us their legal advice on the matter.
Our members and volunteers helped to draft the content of this website.
The legal framework governing homeschooling in Quebec has been constantly evolving since the amendment to the Education Act in 2017. Since no court of law has been called upon to take a position to date, there are different interpretations of this Act and of the Homeschooling Regulation in Québec depending on the entity or person consulted.
Amendments to the Education Act and the adoption of a first regulation governing homeschooling in 2018 required adjustments on the part of Québec’s family educators. A second regulation the following year once again brought its share of adjustments.
AQED offers guidelines to help you navigate through this, based on our interpretation of the regulation. These guidelines seem to be accepted by the Direction de l’enseignement à la maison (DEM), but may vary depending on the expectations of your contact person. You may also want to consult the Homeschooling support guide published by the DEM.
The implementation of the Homeschooling Regulations, as with any other legal document, evolves over time depending on how it is experienced and interpreted by the population. It is therefore important to expose the DEM to the wide variety of educational approaches of families, to influence the development of best practices in home education and its supervision positively.
Your time is precious and should be devoted to your children’s learning. AQED believes that the documentation you supply to the DEM should be limited to the minimum necessary to fulfill your legal obligations. Minimal documentation does not equate to minimal education, and studies show that increased government control does not equate to greater success for children either.
Writing lengthy and complex documents can create precedents and additional expectations on the part of the DEM. We are thinking here of large families, those with special needs children, and those with educational approaches for whom it is harder to document their daily lives. Let’s be in solidarity among family educators and remember that it is in the best interest of the children that your time is not wasted on administrative tasks designed solely to reassure DEM of the absence of educational neglect.
We understand your desire to share how family learning is a wonderful choice for your children, but there are more effective ways to educate the government and the population of these benefits. Rest assured that the promotion of home education throughout Quebec is part of AQED’s mission and we are ensuring this through a variety of initiatives and activities.
AQED encourages a positive and constructive attitude in our relations with the DEM and the resource persons. It is beneficial for both parties that this relationship be one of open exchange and respect, aligned towards the common goal of our children’s well-being.
It is our hope that this website and the documents deriving from it will serve as models and standards for our relationship with the DEM.
To learn more, visit the pages of the section about the obligations while homeschooling, starting with the Overview page.