Just days before the new school year starts, teachers in Quebec are making it clear they don't like the way education reform is being carried out in the province.

In a government survey of more than 4,000 teachers, half of the respondents said they don't think students are doing any better under the new program, and special-needs children are doing worse than they did before.

The province introduced its reform program seven years ago, starting with just Grades 1 and 2. This year it will be expanded to include students right up to Grade 8.

The reform program integrates certain subjects, and it has students marked on their skills, but not by writing exams.

Among the changes was the removal of Grades 1 through 6. Instead of being in grades, children go through cycles one, two and three. They stay with the same group and the same teachers over a two-year period.

The new curriculum was also designed to tap into children's strengths, such as in art or music, and let them use these talents to help them learn other subjects.

The minister of education, Jean-Marc Fournier, admitted Thursday there are problems with the program.
 
"There's problems, sure. Probably we don't have the tools for it. The tools with the reform probably aren't complete. So we don't have to forget about the reform, but we have to complete our tools," Fournier said.

The teachers have made recommendations, and Fournier said he is listening.

They said there should be standardized testing in Grade 6 for math, English and French. They also want more guidance to help them figure out marking schemes.

The province said it will consider all recommendations, but nothing will be decided in time for the first day back to school in September.

This isn't the first time teachers have sounded an alarm about the reform program.

In June, Quebec's largest teachers union urged Fournier to call a halt to the reforms before they are applied at the high-school level.

The Fédération des syndicats des enseignants et enseignantes had ordered a Léger Marketing survey to gauge teachers' impressions of the reform.

"They believe the reform didn't have any positive effect on students' success," said Alec Larose, a federation spokesman.

The Léger survey showed more than 80 per cent of teachers with at least nine years of experience believed the reform has had either a negative effect or no effect at all on performance.