The Government of New Brunswick has released details of the program that will replace French Immersion for new students next fall, a reform that will see all kindergarten and elementary students in English-language schools spend half their days “in exploratory learning in French”.
This is much less than the 80-90% French instruction that elementary students in immersion currently receive, but it is much more French than what is currently taught to students who are not in immersion.
These changes represent the most radical overhaul of French second language education in New Brunswick, Canada’s only officially bilingual province, since immersion began half a century ago.
The percentage of instruction that students will receive in French will increase from 50% to 40% when they reach grades 6 to 8 in college.
In high school, there will be “opportunities for enrichment and advanced study” in French in addition to the minimum amount, Bill Hogan, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, said in a statement.
“There is no doubt that students will not be able to reach a high level of French in the future,” he told a new lecture.
“They will be if they follow this path. What we want at a minimum is for all students to reach a level of conversational French.”
French possible for non-compulsory subjects
The plan in elementary schools is for math to be taught in English, as well as reading and writing in English.
Other subjects such as science and social studies – non-core subjects that the department calls “exploratory” – could be taught in French alongside French vocabulary, reading and writing.
Chris Collins, executive director of Canadian Parents for French in New Brunswick, said 50% of class time devoted to French is not enough, given research showing that students absorb a new language better at a young age. .
“They’re throwing away the gold standard,” Collins said. “They quit. It’s like they said, ‘To hell with that. “”
Liberal Leader Susan Holt agreed.
“It doesn’t meet the needs of people who say, ‘I want my children to have every opportunity to have a career in New Brunswick, to access public jobs in New Brunswick,’” she said.
“He really continues to miss the mark, with a minimum goal in an education system where we should be striving for a bold, bold goal.”
A new French as a second language program in NB will replace the existing French immersion program. Next fall, Kindergarten and Grade 1 students will spend half of their class time in French.
An independent commission established by Prime Minister Blaine Higgs said in February that immersion was “a very effective program”, with 90% of students who stick to it until grade 12 reaching a conversational level in French.
The problem, according to the commission, was that more than 60% of students in the English school system were not enrolled in immersion.
The goal of the new program is to give all English-speaking students the chance to graduate with at least a conversational level in French.
Another goal is to end so-called “streaming” – what Hogan described as an “overwhelming” proportion of students with learning difficulties in non-immersion classes.
But Hogan’s statement says the new program will allow for “differences in delivery” and will depend on “community demographics.”
No student will be exempted from the French program.
The change takes effect in September 2023. Students currently in French immersion in grades 2 through 12 will continue in that program until they graduate from high school, Hogan said in the statement.
In October, Hogan’s predecessor, Dominic Cardy, resigned from the Higgs cabinet, accusing the prime minister of rushing major reform that was scheduled for 2024.
Hogan pushed back against accusations that the government was moving too quickly.
Minister seeks public reaction
“This couldn’t be further from the truth. We reached out to experts, reviewed reports, reviews and research conducted over the past decades. We had many conversations with partners and parties stakeholders over the past few years.”
All of that, along with engagement sessions in schools across the province, has been built into the plan, he said.
The province will hold four in-person public consultation sessions on the changes in January in Bathurst, Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton and two more sessions virtually.
There is also an online survey which the minister says will help the government “finalize” the plan.
“We really hope to hear from you in this final round of consultations,” Hogan said. “Your voice is important to us.”
Collins said he doesn’t expect these consultations to change anything. He said some parents are talking about a legal challenge to the changes, but he’ll leave it up to them to announce it when they’re ready.
Immersion students now spend at least 90% of their school days in French in Grades 1 and 2, and 80% in Grades 3 to 5.
The province says it will have to launch a recruitment campaign to meet the challenge of finding enough teachers capable of teaching French. Hogan said the system will need to find 60 teachers for the Kindergarten and Grade 1 program next fall.
The government also claims that no unilingual teacher who now teaches only in English will lose their job as a result of the changes.
While not all schools are able to find the teachers to start the Kindergarten program next fall, some may wait until 2024 to launch it in Grade 1.
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