French Language Instruction in NB Public Schools, Too Little Input Too Late?

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On June 25, CBC Radio 1 (Moncton) invited Minister Lamrock to take part in a live phone-in concerning the state of French as a second language and instruction in primary and middle schools in New Brunswick (Canada). What the CBC hoped for and what transpired were likely not one and the same during a lively and diverse debate on the subject at hand.

History of the Debate

March of this year became a turning point for the future direction of teaching young NB students French as a second language as Minister Kelly Lamrock (NB MLA, Fredericton – Fort Nashwaak) announced his intention to cancel early French Immersion to a public gathering of outraged parents. The current program has been in place for a decade, when it replaced the Core Program—a method which concentrated on acquiring basic language skills over time and progression throughout the life of public school instruction. Literacy, poor academic performance, and concerns regarding students at either extreme of learning ability were identified as the primary motivators for his planned action to cancel early immersion, in Gr. 1, in favor of late immersion with an entry point at Gr. 5.

The ensuing discussion, both at this meeting in Moncton, NB, and following the announcement, brought to light a deep divide that exists between Francophone and English parents in NB; radicals on both sides of the argument were the first and most vocal in their response to Lamrock's decision.

The Current Situation

Almost four months later, just as the school-year was ending, Lamrock announced a round of open-house discussions to be held in communities throughout New Brunswick during the summer. Lamrock intends these discussions to be an opportunity to expand on his rationale for taking such extreme measures in such a hasty manner; parents will, no doubt, want to voice their opinions and concerns, in the hopes that decisive action is delayed until more inclusive input is given. It is likely that the extremely negative reactions earlier this year factored into Minister Lamrock's decision to 'take the pulse' of New Brunswickers via the CBC call-in show.

Although there were many callers representing urban and rural communities—Fredericton, Saint John, Sackville and remote Deer Island—it was disappointing that there were no callers from the northern third of New Brunswick, which is primarily Francophone. This is especially disturbing as, one would hope that, French language instruction should be as important to native (specifically Acadian) and secondary French language learners alike.

Two callers from Sackville, on the eastern border with Nova Scotia, presented very different viewpoints in solving the problem of disproportionately poor performance in the current system.

• The first highlighted the example of neighboring Nova Scotia. The needs of both advanced and remedial students (classroom streaming), second language instruction and other specialized instruction is undertaken by teacher's assistants and resource assistants in the classroom. These methods have allowed for a more robust teaching experience and resulted in much higher success rates in the areas identified by Lamrock.
• The other caller from this area shared her opinion that the current standard of a single proficiency examination was insufficient in measuring useful competency. She went further to suggest that these tests should be included in the current time-line for other standardized performance tests, i.e., at various grades throughout the public school cycle.

A caller from Deer Island—located in the Bay of Fundy, near the Maine border—provided a possible solution that was unique to her experience in an isolated area of NB. As French second language instruction involved having students ferried to the mainland, she suggested that high-school graduates be given the opportunity to study in neighboring Quebec for up to one year as part of their public school experience. While Minster Lamrock expressed interest in this suggestion, he was unsure that there would be more wide-spread interest or the necessary funding to implement such a plan.

Other callers suggested a mix between complete immersion and core learning, rearranging the curriculum to have students spend half a day in French and half in English instruction, and putting more resources into the issue. One caller, from Saint John, illustrated the experience of many students in the current system, as both she (an 'advanced' student) had graduated just as streaming was introduced, while her younger brother (who had learning challenges) experienced it first-hand. She had a mostly positive experience under the former Core Program, graduated university in due time, and after living six months in Quebec, was able to maximize this mix of French instruction to secure a government position. Her brother, due to his difficulties and the newly introduced streaming, had a demonstrably different experience; he no longer received specialized instruction and found acquiring a second language far more difficult. She didn't expand on his post-secondary experiences.

I was able to engage Lamrock in a fairly lengthy exchange about the instruction and training of teachers in New Brunswick, as their overall competency had not previously been addressed. Having attended the University of New Brunswick, in their Education program, I was able to illustrate deficiencies in in the current program.

• By and large, classroom instruction takes the outdated lecture / assignment format. This presents problems in that B.Ed. students are not widely exposed to alternate teaching formats: e.g. group assignments, tutorial based classes, multi-media, etc.
• The drive to produce French language instructors, combined with this lecture format, allows for a number of graduates that have poor English language skills, as their command of English is not tested thoroughly.
• As the current program is offered as a concurrent second degree, specialization in the sciences, arts, history, etc. is assumed to have been addressed in the students first degree requirements. Little, or no, emphasis is given to customizing any specialty for the needs of public school students.

Minister Lamrock seemed somewhat surprised and enthused that I had focused on a previously absent portion of the overall public school equation. He had been unaware of the prevailing method of instruction in the university level Education Program and agreed that a wider variety would have added benefits when applied to the public school format—citing statistical data that had found a dramatic increase in standardized scores for school systems that encouraged non-traditional teaching. He went on further to say that more varied instruction and classroom diversity, in student composition, went hand-in-hand as each tended to inform the other; teachers leaned to teach differently in response to the needs of a diverse student body. In contrast, the statistics for New Brunswick students was disheartening, as top achievers continued to score lower than all other provinces and regions in Canada. He sounded certain that teacher education was a contributor to these results and that the current programs required drastic reforms.

The last caller brought the discussion full circle, as she targeted the emphasis on the concerns and protests of families directly effected by Lamrock's decision(s). The anxiety clearly stemmed from the 'rush to change' an issue that had yet to be proven to require such drastic measures. Further, there had been no prior involvement with concerned parents or input from established professionals in the education field. It was suggested, with some vigour, that the proposed cancellation be postponed by one year to allow for more intensive study and community involvement. Lamrock did not negate the callers concerns or take that option off the table, but he did re-emphasize that the urgent action was required. He was unprepared to allow for a further decline in the instruction of New Brunswick students—as measured by standardized testing and declining enrollment in post-secondary education. In order for our province to compete in the larger national, and global, 21st century marketplace, we must produce more well-rounded and well-educated students.

He did admit to a certain naïveté and haste in his initial announcement in March. In his words, "There is no instruction manual on 'Ministering', if I can use a verb inappropriately." As hindsight is said to be 20-20, perhaps Lamrock will take this opportunity to more fully engage the parents–perhaps students–that are directly effected by the future of French language instruction in New Brunswick.