The Quebec Education Program (QEP) divides elementary education into three two-year cycles. This organizational model takes into account the need for a long-term approach in developing competencies. It corresponds better to the students’ learning rate and permits more differentiated teaching practices.

The QEP is designed as a system with three integrating elements: broad areas of learning, cross-curricular competencies and subject areas. Its structure is intended to facilitate the establishment of connections among the different educational components.

Within the Elementary Education Program, there are 14 programs (courses) of study organized into the following five subject areas:

• Languages,
• Mathematics, Science and Technology,
• Arts Education,
• Personal Development,
• Social Sciences.

The broad areas of learning help students relate subject-specific knowledges to their daily concerns and thus give them a better grasp of reality. There are five broad areas of learning in the Québec Education Program:

• Health and Well Being,
• Personal and Career Planning,
• Environmental Awareness and Consumer Rights and Responsibilities,
• Media Literacy,
• Citizenship and Community Life.

Cross-curricular competencies represent goals that are common to the whole curriculum. They apply to all the broad areas of learning and are also closely linked to the subject areas. The QEP contains nine cross-curricular competencies grouped into four categories:

• Intellectual: To use information to solve problems, to exercise critical judgment and to use creativity.
• Methodological: To adopt effective work methods, to use information and communications technologies.
• Personal and Social: To construct his/her identity and to cooperate with others.
• Communication: To communicate appropriately with others.

The progression of learning in elementary school constitutes a complement to each school subject, providing further information on the essential knowledge that the students must acquire and be able to use in each year of elementary school. This tool is intended to assist teachers in planning both their teaching and the learning that their students are to acquire.