Thank you for your invitation to testify.
I want to present my particular perspective on Alberta's linguistic landscape, and focus on what I know best through my work as vice-dean of education of the Campus Saint-Jean of the University of Alberta: the training of French-language educators for immersion programs and French-language schools.
First I want to say a few words on the basic situation, which is expressed in a current trend. As you probably already know, immersion programs and French-language schools are increasingly popular in Alberta and in western Canada. Allow me to quote a few figures to give you some idea. There are at this time 46,000 students who are registered in immersion programs, which represents approximately 6.6% of the total student population, and there are approximately 8,000 students registered in French-language schools. In 15 years registrations in immersion programs increased by 50%, and those in French-language schools almost doubled. The statistics indicate that this upward trend will continue over the next 20 years.
Aside from the figures, I would like to insist on the fact that we are experiencing an unprecedented situation. There are several reasons that explain this interest in French immersion programs and French-language schools.
Among those reasons is the fact that anglophones and allophone immigrants are more aware of the advantages of bilingualism, culturally, intellectually, and socio-economically.
There is another factor, which is that the second generation of immersion graduates do not need to be convinced of the benefits of bilingualism, and they register their children in immersion schools so that they may have access to the same opportunities they did.
There is also a migration of francophones from the east of the country toward the west, especially to Alberta, which has increased markedly over the past few years.
Finally, immigration from the francophone countries of Africa has increased very rapidly in Alberta over the past years.
Consequently, there is a new challenge for us, for Albertan francophonie, and for our institution.
I now want to speak about our place in the overall picture, as a francophone establishment.
Currently, the Campus Saint-Jean educator training program is not meeting the demand for French-language teachers. Indeed, only one position out of four is staffed by our institution. Every year, the schools of the French-language school boards and those that offer French immersion programs turn to the eastern provinces, and recently to foreign countries, countries like France, to find qualified teachers. The rapid increase in registrations in French-language schools and French immersion schools has led to a severe shortage of qualified teachers to work in those two educational contexts, especially in the western provinces.
However, there is a glimmer of hope. There are two sources of potential solutions. We have an increasing number of students at Campus Saint-Jean who come from immersion programs and want to become teachers in immersions schools. We also have an increasing number of students from the African francophone diaspora.
The current situation presents four challenges. In addition to the training challenge the Faculty of Education must meet at Campus Saint-Jean, we face three other major challenges. The first is that we must guarantee the linguistic competency of our students from immersion and French as a second language programs. Our second challenge is to guarantee the cultural competency of our African immigrant students. Finally, the third one is to meet the continuous demand for francophone school administrators.
This what we propose to meet these three challenges.
Regarding the development of language skills, we have to develop effective evaluation tools, put in place effective language support measures throughout the program, and develop courses that are well adapted to the students' various needs.
Insofar as cultural competency is concerned, we have to create a bridging program to familiarize people with the Canadian school context before they join the training program. That program is essential to ensure the successful social integration of francophone newcomers, women in particular, who make up a large percentage of our student population. We must also put in place measures to support students during the training program and during their placements. We also have to develop training for teachers who welcome student teachers into their classrooms.
As for as school administrators, we have to create a range of online school administration courses, the objectives of which would be aligned with the new quality standard for school leadership. These courses would lead to a certificate, which could then lead to obtaining a master's in education.
Putting these measures in place requires considerable financial means. The needs keep increasing, but the resources keep dwindling. As an example, the budget of the practice service, which manages the placements of our student teachers, has gone from $600,000 in 2012 to $200,000 in 2017. This drop means that we cannot go forward with the bridging program, the support and guidance programs; this particularly impacts immigrant women, who see their chances of having access to an educator's job dwindle.
In conclusion, education is a key element in promoting bilingualism in western Canada. The educator training program at Campus Saint-Jean has an essential role to play in this project. We are developing the vision and measures necessary to meet the challenge, and we invite the federal government to co-operate in their implementation.