N.B. education minister says overhaul of French immersion program possible

New Brunswick’s education minister says big changes could be coming to the province’s French immersion system, but first, he wants to hear from parents, students, teachers and the public on what they would like to see improved.

The department launched a new website Tuesday, hoping for submissions on how to strengthen French second-language learning. Dominic Cardy said, in an officially bilingual province, all English graduates of the public school system should have a conversational level of French.

“The goal here is to increase the medium bar for everyone, because right now, there are huge numbers of folks in the province who don’t have access to any French immersion at all – any advanced French second-language training at all,” he said. “And in some cases, pretty minimal basic French language training. And that’s not fair, or right, or equitable in a province that’s been officially bilingual for my entire lifetime.”

Cardy said essentially everything is on the table as far as possible future changes. But, children enrolled in immersion for the upcoming school year will not see any changes.

“However, families are advised that there will be changes to this program in the coming years,” a news release stated.

Consultations will begin in the fall and submissions are welcome until Nov. 30.

According to the department, 60 per cent of Anglophone students do not even enroll in French immersion, and a third of New Brunswick schools still don’t offer it.

Over the last three years, 29.8 per cent of Grade 10 students achieved conversational French – and fewer than half of Grade 12 students who graduated in 2021 said they’re comfortable using the language outside of their school.