Thank you.
Mr. Chair, dear members of the committee and partners, I wish you a good day.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Caroline Turnbull. I work with the New Brunswick Ministry of Education and Early Childhood Development, francophone sector. I also serve as vice-president of the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers, the CASLT. It is in this capacity that I am here today.
Mr. Michael Salvatori, president of CASLT, registrar and chief executive officer the Ontario College of Teachers, deeply regrets not being able to attend and sends his most cordial greetings.
I'm accompanied by Guy Leclair, executive director of the association, and Mr. Hilaire Lemoine, executive in residence at the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute, University of Ottawa. Mr. Lemoine is treasurer of CASLT, and it is in this capacity that he is here today.
The Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers has been in existence for more than 42 years. Its mission is to foster professional excellence in the teaching of second languages in Canada. It is composed of over 3,000 members. Its organizational structure, representative of all Canadian provinces and territories, allows it to be present throughout the country.
Over the years, the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers, CASLT, has endeavoured to meet the needs of its members with regard to professional training, educational resources, sharing of ideas, and exchange of information.
Today, new needs emerge. New technology, multilingualism, multiculturalism, and internationalization are much more prevalent in the classroom, adding new challenges to teachers' tasks. It goes without saying that the services, activities, and resources of CASLT evolve within this Canada-wide context. Besides striving to enhance our teachers' skills and the quality of education, CASLT aims, first and foremost, to reinforce students' second language acquisition and to ensure that our young citizens become bilingual and contribute in an exemplary fashion to Canadian society in the 21st century.
As a national association, and with the help of support programs for official languages offered by the Department of Canadian Heritage, CASLT also leads important national projects, creating synergies and partnerships that support its mandate. These achievements benefit not only our youth but also all stakeholders in education. I would like to present to you two major initiatives currently undertaken by CASLT that illustrate this work.
The first example is the Common European Framework of Reference. As its name indicates, the framework was created in Europe and aims to establish common references for teaching, learning and assessment of second languages. This reference tool offers several advantages. Please refer to appendix 2, which gives an exhaustive list of these. This framework allows us to establish common uniform levels of language competency applicable to primary, secondary and post-secondary schools, as well as to the workplace, throughout Canada and around the world.
It focuses on communication in action, autonomy and self-directed learning throughout one's lifetime. It therefore facilitates interprovincial international mobility, and transition to the workforce. These assets appeal to students and parents who see the framework's relevance and significant added value.
Although CASLT is a national leader with respect to promoting the framework, many people have worked, and continue to work, towards its implementation. The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada studied the framework in depth and wrote a guide for its use in the Canadian school context. The Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training adopted the framework and curriculum development for official second language programs within the four Atlantic provinces.
And the Minister of Education in British Columbia developed a language curriculum based on the framework in 2010. Various ministerial departments, school boards, councils of ministers, schools and teachers throughout Canada have adopted, and continue to adopt, the basic elements of the framework. Through the work of CASLT, the idea of the systematic implementation of the framework is growing throughout the country.
A second example is the creation of forums and national steering committees implemented by CASLT in order to foster dialogue among all stakeholders and research institutions, for example with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, with the Institute of Official Languages and Bilingualism, University of Ottawa, or the Second Language Research Institute of Canada, University of New Brunswick.
These interactions may focus on, among other things, the evolution and effectiveness of certain teaching methods or programs, such as basic or intensive French, or the tendencies related to best practices for utilizing technology in second language teaching.
Disseminating results of these discussions can enrich knowledge, not only for teachers and school administrators, but also for researchers, public policy analysts and decision makers, within the Ministry of Education, the federal government, professional teachers associations, etc.
The evolution and advancement of bilingualism as well as the promotion of linguistic duality in Canada are certainly not perfect yet. These are important and long-ranging national projects that progress constantly, albeit with certain delays, but overall, the work that is done is commendable.
For example, only a few years ago we were focused on ensuring the transition of second-language students from primary to secondary school. Today we are working to ensure their transition from secondary school to post-secondary education and to the workforce. This being said, we need to continue our efforts, since this imposing project is not yet completed. Still today there is a lack of second-language teachers, the second-language teaching profession is still undervalued, and needs for professional training, educational resources, and best practice sharing are still acutely felt.
Funds granted through Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality and other programs offered to the provinces and territories by Canadian Heritage have allowed us to maintain and sometimes to broaden second-language programs offered in schools and in teacher training institutions. However, there is still much to accomplish in order to revise and update certain curricula in line with new language-teaching and learning practices. We need to ensure that teachers have the necessary tools and opportunities for continuing education and that administrators are well aware of teachers' needs and of new second-language teaching methods. This is where associations like CASLT can intervene.
While we are very grateful for the financial support received from support programs for official languages offered by Canadian Heritage, we note that despite investments made by the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality, to our knowledge there has been very little new funding granted to associations such as CASLT that work towards promotion, development, effectiveness, and excellence of programs for teaching official second languages in all Canadian schools.
In this day and age, it is essential to be bilingual. We need to offer our young people a second language education that will allow them to be competitive, both nationally and internationally. Public and private sectors increasingly look for this type of skill in young employees. Our schools bear the responsibility of preparing our young people for this new reality.
Education professionals who are entrusted with the responsibility of teaching and guiding our young people, including the learning of official second languages, must have the resources, the necessary training and support that will allow them to offer quality education to our young people, something to which they are entitled as Canadian citizens. In this context, CASLT is committed to continuing its work with second language teachers and education professionals, enabling them to play a key role in this project which is so important to our society.
In closing, we would like to suggest five recommendations we believe are essential to providing quality second language education for all students across the country.
One is a clear federal leadership with respect to bilingual competence in our students at all school levels, particularly at the end of secondary school, by renewing and enhancing agreements with provincial and territorial governments, providing increased support to second-language teaching associations, and by renewing a multi-year strategy such as the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality.
The second is a sustained financial commitment that will allow the implementation of a Canadian framework of reference for second-language teaching and learning based on the Common European Framework of Reference.
The third recommendation is increased funding for research, for the development of innovative language teaching methods and for the development of initial and continuing training programs for second language teachers.
The fourth is a national campaign to promote the second language teaching profession to young bilingual graduates pursuing university studies.
The fifth is financial support for a campaign to disseminate new research on bilingualism, demonstrating its numerous and diverse benefits with respect to intellectual capacities, mental health, international mobility, professional advancement, etc.
Thank you.