N.B. education minister says fall 2023 remains goal for French education changes

Full details about changes to French education in New Brunswick’s Anglophone school sector won’t be made public for months to come, but the province’s new education minister has been giving a broad outlook.

“Eventually, French Immersion will phase out as we know it,” said Bill Hogan, New Brunswick’s Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, in an interview Monday. “I think there’s a lot of people who talk about French immersion and they have a belief that it’s some kind of miracle program. While it’s very good for a small group of students, the goal for French immersion is that students achieve an advanced or advanced plus level.”

Hogan said about 28 per cent of students achieved the highest levels of language proficiency.

“If we were talking about math, or we were talking about language arts, and we said 28 per cent of our students met our targets, I’m not quite sure we’d be having the same conversation.”

In the week since he became education minister, Hogan said all current students in French immersion would be able to continue with the program until they graduated. Hogan said the plan was for French immersion programs to be replaced in New Brunswick’s Anglophone schools with one single curriculum for all students entering Grade 1 next fall.

What the new curriculum will look like in the run of a normal school day remains unclear.

“We’re going to start with Grade 1,” said Hogan. “If we can do Kindergarten and Grade 1, then we’ll do that. But we’re going to start at the very least with Grade 1 and we’ll work it through the system that way.”

The province’s perpetual discussion about French immersion stormed back into the spotlight earlier this month when accelerated plans to change French immersion were revealed in a cabinet resignation letter from the province's former education minister, Dominic Cardy.

Connie Keating, the president of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association (NBTA), said its board of directors had previously been working with the province under the direction of French immersion changes taking effect in 2024. Keating said Cardy’s resignation letter was the first inkling of changes taking effect in 2023 instead of 2024.

“We just have so many questions about whether those timelines in any fashion will be adhered to,” said Keating in an interview Monday.

The NBTA’s board of directors issued a written statement on Friday, saying it would no longer participate in the province’s formal consultations about French education reform. Keating said part of the reluctance to take part any further was due to a feeling amongst board members that changes were already a done deal.

“The board took issue with the 10 month turnaround,” said Keating, adding the board already had too many concerns about unfilled teaching positions and supply teacher shortages.

 “It’s felt currently there is already too much strain on the system,” said Keating.

Hogan, a former teacher, principal, and NBTA board member, said the introduction of French education reforms could also address staffing concerns.

“If I didn’t think it would work, I wouldn’t be sitting in front of you today talking about it,” said Hogan. ”I believe in what we’re doing and where we’re going.”