QUEBEC – Francophone students in Grade 6 will spend half of their school year intensively studying English, every classroom is getting a Smartboard and the days of chummy student-teacher relationships are drawing to a close.
In an inaugural address to the National Assembly on Wednesday, focused heavily on education, Premier Jean Charest signalled a populist shift back to more traditional values in Quebec’s education system.
And while the changes may take a while to implement, Charest said, he’s heard the message from parents loud and clear: Formality is coming back to student teacher relations.
"As premier and as a father, I feel it is fitting that students address teachers and staff by using the ‘vous,’ form," Charest said.
Charest goes further. For the first time, every Quebec school will required to have a code of conduct based on human respect and respect for the authority of teachers and school principals.
But the biggest education-related change will focus on improving francophone Quebecers’ use of a second language.
"Full mastery of French does not preclude knowledge of a second or a third language," Charest said, announcing the boost in English immersion for Grade 6 francophone students.
Charest said the change, to be phased in over five years, will enlist the help of the province’s English school system.
French immersion is tried and true part of the English public school system. Education Department officials said Wednesday night that of the 110,000 students enrolled in the public English school system in Quebec, 39,189 – 36 per cent – take French immersion, mostly at the elementary level.
They were unable to provide comparative statistics for the French system but English immersion already exists in some ares. For example, of the 21 public schools in the Lac St. Jean region, 16 offer English immersion – in the same schools – in the latter part of Grade 6.
Some Parti Québécois MNAs were quick to mention that the PQ’s plan also calls for Grade 6 immersion, but not on an obligatory basis.
PQ leader Pauline Marois told reporters the PQ’s reluctance in making it obligatory stems from the idea that some students who have learning difficulties in general might not be able to cope with the additional classwork.
Marois said it could be technically impossible to run such a program, as not all Grade 6 teachers in the francophone system are equipped to teach English.
"We say if we have to hire to teach English to students, we’ll hire," an aide to Education Minister Line Beauchamp replied.
Officials with Quebec’s English and French school boards – while welcoming Charest’s focus on education – warned that many details need to be worked out.
"We expect to be given the room and the flexibility to take the lead in designing these exchanges with our francophone partners and in a way that will benefit our English public school students," said Debbie Horrocks, president of the Quebec English School Boards Association.
Josée Bouchard, president of the Fédération des commissions scolaires du Québec, added their boards will need to take the time to analyze the "modalities and impacts" of such a proposal.
Horrocks also threw cold water on Charest’s pledge to equip all classrooms with Smartboards and all teachers with a laptop. She said many teachers "don’t need or want laptops to make them excellent or progressive educators."
She said boards themselves can best identify the tools and strategies they need.
Charest, however, said with interest in school sports running very high, the government will encourage more school pride by funding high school team uniforms.
"When we are proud of our school, we stay in school and succeed," Charest said.
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