A provincial steering committee has recommended that the Government of New Brunswick provide more French language resources to English-speaking students.
The committee was commissioned by the education department last spring in response to outcry over the province’s attempt to replace French immersion program.
Thousands of people participated in consultations with the provincial government in early 2023 after it proposed phasing out French immersion and replacing it with a program where all anglophone students would receive half their education in English, and the other half in French.
“It was clear that what we proposed for a new French immersion program just wouldn’t work,” Education Minister Bill Hogan said at a press conference.
Some of the committee’s long-term recommendations included creating a plan to support parents whose children are in the French immersion program, and increasing French learning opportunities.
Hogan said part of the plan to grow students’ opportunities to learn French is to hire more teachers, but another part of the plan is to provide online learning options using people from around New Brunswick, or even Canada.
That will happen through the Centre of Excellence for Language Learning. The province announced the centre in response to short-term recommendations the committee released in July.
Other long-term recommendations included adjusting classroom sizes based on specific students’ needs, and creating a plan for chronic absenteeism across the province.
“We’re working on improving our education system, and that’s going to benefit students, parents, and most importantly, to teachers,” Hogan said.
The executive director of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association, Ardith Shirley, was the co-chair of the steering committee. She hopes the momentum raised from parents and the public will be enough to push the long-term recommendations through the next five years.
“We’re hopeful that that group will continue to hold the line, today, ‘Yes we have come to an agreement on a plan,” she said.
Hogan has agreed to have a plan for each recommendation by March 2024.
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