Culture in the Schools Program

1) Category:
• General program

2) Issues Behind the Program:

• The Culture in the Schools Program (part of the Québec Education Program) was
designed in keeping with Québec’s education reform ideology aimed at meaningful,
current and culturally rooted learning for all subjects in school.

3) Objectives:
• Encourage the performance of cultural activities crafted by professional artists, writers
and cultural organizations in conjunction with the teaching staff.
• Offer students a range of cultural experiences that will have a positive impact on their
learning and allow them to develop open-mindedness, curiosity, critical judgment and
aesthetic appreciation.
• Give students opportunities to visit cultural venues, to develop a taste for the arts and
for frequenting recognized cultural venues, and to carry out cultural activities.
• Support the creation of original projects that highlight regional specificities.
• Foster an appreciation in school of the value of cultural and artistic professions.
• Reaffirm, develop and enhance the connections between education and culture in order
to boost the cultural content in programs of study and educate students to become
culturally engaged citizens.

4) Environment:
• Primary and secondary schools
• Community (recognized cultural venues)

5) Target Group:
• Students from 5 to 16 years old

6) Key Words:
• Culture in the Schools Program, coeuréaction, school-family-community partnership,
cultural events, cultural community, creation, Répertoire de ressources culture-
éducation, writer, music, painting, theatre

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/. Page 1 of 6
7) Description:
• The Culture in the Schools Program provides principals and teachers with funding for
artistic and cultural projects in school. The goal of the program is to educate students
to become culturally engaged citizens by increasing their exposure to cultural
experiences through the joint efforts of teachers and the professional artists, writers
and cultural organizations listed in the Répertoire de ressources culture-éducation.
• The Répertoire contains information about hundreds of artists, writers and cultural
organizations offering activities for young people in preschool, elementary school and
secondary school and is integral to the Culture in the Schools Program. Available in
electronic format only, the Répertoire is updated every two years.

8) Steps:
I. Submitting proposals:
o Schools, groups of schools or school boards that wish to present a project must fill
out all the sections of the Cultural Activities Project Submission Form.
o The relevant authority must send copies of the form to the regional management
committee for evaluation, in accordance with the committee’s terms and
conditions. The MCCCF or MELS Regional Office can be contacted for further
information.
o The forms must be signed by the school principal and the project officer.
II. Evaluation of proposals:
o The projects submitted are analyzed by the regional management committee,
according to the procedures set out in each region and on the basis of the following
criteria:
 Conformity with conditions of eligibility;
 Collaboration between teachers and artists, writers and cultural organizations;
 Participation of as many students as possible;
 Relevance of the project’s preparation and transfer-of-learning activities;
 Connections with the Québec Education Program;
 A budget based on a variety of sources of funding.
o Additional criteria may be added in certain regions. The regional management
committee notifies the schools accordingly.
o The regional management announces its decision. All decisions are final.
III. Agreement between artist or writer and the school:
o There are two copies of the agreement, one for the artist or writer and the other
for the school. The documents entitled Model Agreement Between the Artist and
the School and Model Agreement Between the Writer and the School must be used
to draft the agreement;
o This written agreement is important because it confirms the terms and conditions of
the verbal agreement made between the artist or writer and the school and is
designed to help prevent misunderstandings.
o The agreement is used by the school board to justify payment.

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 IV. Books for schools:
o Schools whose cultural activity projects include a workshop with a writer are
entitled to a certain number of the author’s works.
 As soon as the agreement is signed by both parties, the writer must send a copy
to the Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois (UNEQ);
 UNEQ sends a certain number of the writer's books to the school. For each day
the writer is present in the school, 20 books are supplied (maximum of 6 titles).
The costs are covered by the program.

9. Activities/Actions:
• The cultural activities supported by the Culture in the Schools Program are designed and
carried out by professional artists, writers and cultural organizations listed in the
Répertoire de ressources culture-éducation in conjunction with teaching staff. The
activities must include three phases:
o preparation phase, which includes one or more activities in the classroom or at a
cultural venue; this phase helps the students acquire references related to the next
phase
o implementation phase, which introduces the students to one or more cultural
experiences, such as workshops with artists or writers, or outings to professional
cultural venues (e.g. museums)
o transfer-of-learning phase, which allows students to reflect on the knowledge
acquired from the various cultural experiences they were introduced to during the
two earlier phases and to make connections with other learning situations in the
classroom.
• Concretely, the program makes it possible for artists to come into the classroom to
introduce the students to the creative process and for students to go on cultural outings
(opportunities for sharing the emotion of a play or the ingenious choreography of a
dance performance) and to play an active role in the program with lasting benefits that
include the ability to work as a team and development of their creativity, critical
judgment and aesthetic appreciation. The ultimate goal is for the students to become
adults who are culturally aware and more inclined to be part of the cultural life of their
community. The schools must submit their proposals in early autumn.

10) Resources Required:

• Human resources:
o Four coordinators (two from the MCCCF, one from the MELS and one from both
departments)
o The regional management committee, made up of regional officers from the MCCCF
and the MELS who are responsible for the program, and representatives of the
educational community (teachers, principal, etc.) and cultural groups
• Financial resources:
o The 2007-2008 report indicates an average grant per public school student of $4.83
and an average cost per project of $9.89 per student. The average grant for each
public school project was $258.98 and the average cost of a project was $532.42.

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/. Page 3 of 6
11) Roles of the Participants:
• The school:
o signs the agreement;
o participates in the program.
• The teachers and students:
o actively participate in planning and carrying out of the project.
• The different partners:
o participate financially.
• The writer or artist:
o signs the agreement;
o sends the material (books, tools, etc.);
o participates in the workshop;
o shares his/her craft.
• The regional management committee:
o evaluates the activities;
o has the final say on the choice of projects.

12) Scientific Basis or Validity:

• Evaluation of the first two years of the program began in the fall of 2006 and ended in
the fall of 2007.
o The final report showed that the main strength of the program was its basic
objectives.
o The program promotes the cultural dimension of instruction in class and at school by
providing opportunities for students to experience culture.
o The program offers culture professionals a special opportunity for exercising their
art and to introduce students and school personnel to it.
o School personnel are very satisfied with the program not only because it contributes
to student learning but also because they themselves learn about cultural
professions, new pedagogical approaches and experimenting with cross-curricular
connections.
• The figures from the 2006-2007 report are conclusive: During this school year, the
program reached 47% of the total school population, or 492 524 preschool, primary and
secondary students, through 9 084 cultural activities.
• According to the 2007-2008 report, 3 041 cultural resources, including 1 581 artists, 592
writers and 868 cultural organizations, participated in cultural activities under the
program.

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/. Page 4 of 6
13) Program Material:
• Website: http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/sections/cultureEducation/plcal/index_en.asp?
page=renseignements
• Répertoire de ressources culture-éducation (made up of 1 700 artists, writers and
cultural organizations)
• Forms: Cultural Activities Project Submission Form, Budget Estimate and Calculation
and Expenses
• Model Agreement Between the Artist and the School
• Model Agreement Between the Writer and the School
• Printable version of the program
• Program evaluation [in French only]
• Some writers send material to the teachers.
• Related material for the teachers

14) Additional Information:

• The information contained in this factsheet was taken from:
o The website:
http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/sections/cultureEducation/plcal/index.asp;
o The evaluation report:
http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/sections/publications/publications/SICA/DRSI/Rap_Cu
lture_Ecole.pdf;
o 2007-2008 program report (Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la
Condition féminine and ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, Programme
La culture à l’école. Bilan 2007-2008, April 2009.).
• Twenty years ago, the Ministère de la Culture, de la Communication, de la Condition
féminine (MCCCF) and the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (MELS) formed
a partnership that led to a cultural policy for Québec in 1992, a memorandum of
understanding in 1997 and a policy statement (Pour les jeunes, l’école et la culture) in
2000. In 2004, MCCCF’s Rencontres culture-éducation program merged with MELS’s
measure to support integration of the cultural dimension in schools to form the Culture
in the Schools Program.
• The program has existed for 5 years. After a first year of implementation (2004-2005)
marked by various administrative adjustments, 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 saw many
improvements in how the program is co-managed and in the administrative and
promotional tools that support the program.
• In 2009-2010, the priority will be cultural outings for primary, and secondary students,
and projects that involve participation by secondary students.

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/. Page 5 of 6
15) Contacts:
• Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine (MCCCF)
Direction de la diffusion, de la formation artistique et des programmes jeunesse
225, av. Grande Allée Est, bloc C, 2e étage, Québec (Québec) G1R 5G5
Tel.: (418) 380-2315

• Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (MELS)

Direction générale des services à l’enseignement
1035, rue de La Chevrotière, 17e étage, Québec (Québec) G1R 5A5
Tel.: (418) 643-3452

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/. Page 6 of 6