Cultural Committees

The main objectives of the cultural committees are to enhance the cultural
dimension of school service centres (SSC) and school boards (SB), and to
promote the integration of culture into the schools. Aware of the key role that they
can play, the Ministère is lending its support to the creation, operation and
development of these committees.

Mandate
 Provide the SSC or SB with a cultural policy adopted by the governing board
or council of commissioners, provide for its implementation and update it
every 10 years.
 Identify and implement measures aimed at promoting the integration of the
cultural dimension into the schools’ educational projects.
 Encourage the teaching staff to plan cultural activities for the students and
then re-channel what they learned into classroom activities.
 Promote the Culture-Education section of the Ministère’s website and
assist schools that would like to organize activities related to the programs,
awards and resources available to teachers.

Culture-Education
Culture in the School, a Class Act!
The school plays an essential role in shaping the ways that students relate to
culture. Culture, which is not restricted to any one group or time period,
encourages students to better understand others and to learn about the societies
in which they live. Cultural interaction enables students to:

 develop their critical skills 

 become empowered 
 construct their identity
Each subject contributes to culture in its own complementary fashion; it is just a
matter of showcasing the cultural dimension of each subject. The surest road to
culture proceeds by way of cultural references, which enable students to develop
a global vision of culture and to structure their knowledge in a coherent manner.

Today’s teachers have to contend with many challenges. One of these consists in
having students from different cultural backgrounds integrate into an infinitely
vast second culture that is taking shape at an accelerated rate. The Ministère de
l’Éducation and the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications are working
closely together to ensure that students have access to a wide variety of tools
that are adapted to the realities of the schools. These tools foster the integration
of culture into all subjects and at all levels of education in schools all across
Québec.

Culture in the Schools Program

The Culture in the Schools program is designed to produce citizens who are
actively involved in cultural life by increasing the number of cultural experiences
offered to students.

These experiences are made possible through collaboration with artists, writers
and cultural organizations listed in the Répertoire culture-education and science
culture organizations included in the List of science organizations.  

The Culture in the Schools program has three components: 

 Cultural Workshops at School

This component helps bring artists, writers and cultural organizations into
the schools to share their creative processes with students in a workshop
setting.
 Science Culture
This component enables people from science organizations to come into
the classroom and share their scientific and technological processes with
students in a workshop setting. It also enables students to go on field trips
to organizations that contribute to science culture.
 Schools Host an Artist or Writer
This component allows students to participate, for a period of 4 to 12
weeks, in a project involving artistic exploration. It also offers professional
 artists and writers the opportunity to spend time in a school environment
and to find inspiration there for their own creative pursuits.

To be eligible, projects must be carried out in public or private schools with

students in:

 General education in the youth sector:

o preschool education
o elementary education
o secondary education
 Vocational training
 Adult general education

Program objectives
More specifically, the  Culture in the Schools program is designed to:

 ensure that the cultural dimension is integrated into schools in accordance

with the Québec Education Program
 offer students a range of cultural experiences that may have a positive
impact on their learning and allow them to develop open-mindedness,
curiosity, critical judgment and aesthetic appreciation
 promote joint action among schools and cultural organizations, while
taking into account the diversity of regional realities

Students are therefore encouraged to play an active role in these activities in

order to derive lasting benefits, such as the development of creativity and critical
and aesthetic judgment. As adults, they will be more likely to participate in the
cultural life of their communities.

Field Trips to Cultural Venues

In keeping with Québec’s cultural policy, Partout, la culture, and the related action
plan, financial support is being provided to school service centres (SSC),
school boards (SB) and private educational institutions to enable all young
people, from preschool through secondary school, to take part in two free school
field trips to cultural venues per year. Students in adult general education and
vocational training may also be offered the opportunity to take part in cultural
field trips while completing their programs.

School field trips to cultural venues enable students to discover the incredible
abundance of culturally important places and events while providing them with
opportunities to have meaningful cultural experiences.

Cultural Activities
The suggested subject-specific and multidisciplinary cultural activities for
preschool, elementary and secondary school are intended to support teachers in
their role as cultural mediators. The activities were designed in collaboration with
members of the education community and propose original ways of drawing on
cultural references for each subject, while providing the necessary flexibility to
adapt to the individual realities of schools. By placing students at the centre of
the activities, they help foster cultural awareness.