EDMONTON- Recent figures from Edmonton school divisions show that more and more parents are choosing to enrol their children in French immersion programs, resulting in new challenges for school boards in deciding where to put the programs.
Between 2010 and 2015, French immersion enrolment climbed 15 per cent in Edmonton Catholic Schools and 17 per cent in Edmonton Public Schools. While parents are able to find spaces for their children to be taught Canada’s other official language, in many cases, students need to attend schools far from their homes.
“When we went looking in central Edmonton for a language program within the public system, there wasn’t any,” downtown Edmonton mother Heather Mackenzie said. “No matter what, we were looking at commuting our daughter out at a very young age and that was sort of the opposite of our intention in moving downtown.”
Whether Catholic or public, most Edmonton schools that offer French immersion programs are in the city’s mature neighbourhoods. But both school boards say they are working to change that.
“Over the last number of years, we’ve seen an increase in demand,” Edmonton Public Schools’ managing director of infrastructure Chris Wright said. “You have to consider, that’s within the context of increased demand across the board.”
According to Wright, with 14 public schools currently under construction in the capital region, the public division is in the process of assessing where immersion programs should be placed.
“That dynamic changes over time as new school spaces open up,” Wright said. “So perhaps the distribution of students looks a little different over the next one or two years.”
“If the demand is anywhere in the city, we’ll be there with some program offerings,” he said.
Boris Radyo, Edmonton Catholic Schools’ assistant superintendent for educational planning services, says the Catholic division is recognizing the demand for French immersion programs.
“We’re currently looking at expanding the French immersion programs in new schools,” he said. “Families in new communities also want choice in programming, and the first choice for most of the families is French immersion.”
Kianna Ly is a student who attends a French immersion program at Monseigneur William Irwin School. She says she loves the fact she is learning a second language in addition to learning the general curriculum.
“I just feel like it’s an amazing program to be in,” she said. “It’s really cool because when I go to get a job when I’m older, I have that background of both languages.”
Mackenzie said she and her husband have a background in international development and that they want their daughter to be able to take French immersion to help her become a global citizen as well.
“For us, having a second language – hopefully a third down the road – is a big part of that,” she said. “We wanted to make sure she had that opportunity.”
Mackenzie, a former school trustee, found 100 more central Edmonton families who wanted a French immersion program in the city’s centre and complained to the public school board about the lack of such programs in her area. She says she was pleasantly surprised to see how responsive the board was to her concerns.
“I found it was really comforting,” she said. “It made me feel we were working together towards a common purpose.”
Since raising her concerns, Oliver School now plans to offer a French immersion kindergarten class next year. Mackenzie says that’s a good start and that she’d like to see more.
“I think down the road, we’re going to have to consider if French immersion should actually be considered an alternative program.”
For his part, Radyo said the Catholic board is already looking at tentative plans for how to accommodate the growing demand for the immersion program for next year, particularly in newer suburbs.
“For 2017, we’re considering French immersion at our new school in Summerside,” he said, adding it will also offer a French immersion program at its new Windermere school in west Edmonton in the fall of 2016.
According the Edmonton Public Schools’ website, 20 of the board’s schools will offer French immersion programs in 2016-17 while Edmonton Catholic Schools will have 13 that offer the program.
With files from Fletcher Kent.
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