LANG Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Official Languages |
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Comité permanent des langues officielles |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
French Second-Language Education Programs in Canada
Ottawa, February 27, 2014 -
The Hon. Michael Chong, Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages, today tabled in the House of Commons a report entitled The State of French Second-Language Education Programs in Canada.
“The Standing Committee on Official Languages investigated the state of French immersion programs in Canada and heard from over 19 witnesses from across the country. The report reflects the findings of the Committee on French immersion programs, an important element of Canada’s official languages policy. As chair, I hope that the report will inform public policy and strengthen Canada’s official languages. On behalf of the Committee, I’d like to thank all those who contributed to the report,” said Mr. Chong.
The first part of the report examines how the Government of Canada contributes to French second-language education in Canada, an area of jurisdiction that is mainly a provincial and territorial responsibility. In the second part, the Committee considers the state of core French second-language programs. The third part summarizes the witness recommendations on various measures the Government of Canada can take to help develop a continuum of French second-language learning in Canada. The fourth part focusses on the distinction between minority schools and immersion schools in terms of their mandates and objectives. The fifth part examines the professional development of French second-language teachers, the quality and availability of educational resources, and research on the teaching and learning of French as a second language.
In the sixth part of the report, the Committee presents 10 recommendations. First, it calls on Canadian Heritage to maintain funding for French second-language education in the new 2013-2014 to 2017-2018 Protocol for Agreements for Minority-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction. The Committee then recommends that Canadian Heritage work with the provinces and territories to improve reporting practices and performance measures for the next protocol in order to have more reliable data on the progress and success of French second-language education programs across Canada. As well, the Committee would like to see Canadian Heritage, together with the provinces and territories, focus on student retention and achievement in core French programs with a view to improving them. The Committee recommends that Canadian Heritage, again with the agreement of the provinces and territories, develop an information and promotion strategy regarding the French second-language education programs offered in Canada, that it maintain its funding for language and cultural exchange programs, both for students and for French second-language teachers, that it take on a leadership role within the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, for establishing a common national framework for reference for language learning in Canada, and that it develop an information campaign at Canadian post-secondary institutions to promote French second-language instruction as a profession. Lastly, the Committee recommends that the Government of Canada continue to invest in research on the acquisition and maintenance of language skills and on French second-language teaching and assessment methods.
It should be noted that the New Democratic Party of Canada submitted a supplementary opinion.
The report can be consulted on the Committee’s webpage on the Parliament of Canada website at www.parl.gc.ca/LANG-e. Individuals without access to an electronic version can obtain a copy of the report from the Committee Clerk.
The Standing Committee on Official Languages is composed of 10 members. The Hon. Michael Chong (Wellington–Halton Hills) serves as chair and Yvon Godin (Acadie–Bathurst) and Lise St Denis (Saint-Maurice–Champlain) as vice-chairs. The other members are Joyce Bateman (Winnipeg South Centre), Corneliu Chisu (Pickering—Scarborough East), Joe Daniel (Don Valley East), Jacques Gourde (Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière), John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest), Jamie Nicholls (Vaudreuil-Soulanges) and Manon Perreault (Montcalm).
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