New Brunswick asks for ideas on education in French as a second language | CBC News

New Brunswick is turning to the public for input on redesigning how French is taught in Anglophone schools.

The consultation comes after a report recommending replacing French immersion with a program available to all students.

Education Minister Dominic Cardy said the changes are aimed at making opportunities more “equal” across the province and improving conversation skills.

“The goal here is to raise the average bar for everyone,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “Because right now, there are a large number of people in the province who don’t have any access to immersion,

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development will begin a series of public sessions, focus groups and other events to gather feedback this fall. It is also invite people to submit written submissions until November 30.

The department said ideas that could be explored could include expanding local projects and allowing students to take college-level French courses in high school.

As part of the review of the province’s Official Language Act, Commissioners John McLaughlin and Yvette Finn wrote a report on second language training. He says the current French immersion model is “unconstructive” and creates two levels within the school system.

Cardy said the split has created imbalances in the Anglophone sector, negative impacts on classroom composition and lower student confidence.

He said another problem with the current model is that many students drop out of the program while still in high school.

“Take a course, for example, in physics, when you know that you are going to go to an English university, learning the terms in French is seen by many students and parents as an obstacle to obtaining a higher qualification that could help with scholarships”, said.

French immersion is currently not offered in 66 of the 205 Anglophone schools in the province and only about 40 percent of Anglophone students are enrolled.

Cardy said French instruction is currently “pretty minimal” and “basic” in some areas of New Brunswick.

“That is not fair, correct or equitable in a province that has been officially bilingual for my entire life,” he said.

The province’s changes also aim to improve spoken French skills for high school graduates.

Fewer than a third of 10th graders achieved conversational levels of French in the past three years, according to the Department for Education.

In March, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development adopted 18 of 24 recommendations to improve second language learning.

Under the recommendations, the province’s new minimum target for high school graduates is now based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The goal is B1, an intermediate conversational level on the globally recognized scale.

French immersion registration is taking place as usual for the 2022-23 school year, with no changes announced as of yet.

The timeline from the Department of Education shows the design of the framework starting in April 2023 with implementation between January and August 2024.