WATCH: French immersion programs are more popular than ever, but school districts are struggling to find qualified teachers. Elaine Yong reports.
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New statistics on French immersion enrollment numbers in B.C. confirm the growing need for more teachers who teach in a second language.
“We’re only graduating about one-fifth of the French immersion teachers we need in our education system,” says Glyn Lewis, executive director of the B.C. and Yukon branch of Canadian Parents for French.
According to Lewis, only 40 to 60 graduating teachers every year are qualified to teach French, but there are over 200 postings each year for those skills.
Kirk Heinrich with the Vancouver School Board says they’ve been working closely with UBC and SFU to find more qualified teachers, even interviewing students before their practicum.
Lewis says that it’s not only schools that have to be proactive in meeting the demand – it’s university students themselves.
“Geography, History, English, they’re laudable faculties, but that’s not where the demand is in our education system. It’s programs like French immersion, it’s the sciences and some of the trades.”
WATCH: Glyn Lewis spoke about the issue on BC1
– With files from Elaine Yong
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