is the only word I could think of that doesn’t have four letters. I am listening to the press conference from Fredericton. The mandatory intensive French programme is still in place, and early immersion will be less effective as it will only start in grade three. As far as I can tell that is the only bone thrown to the critics: the retention of some form of early(-ish) immersion. The rest of the original Lamrock plan remains, and the Minister is still trotting out much of the same disinformation: that poor and aboriginal children are clustered in core, without acknowledging that EFI is frequently not offered in the rural areas where those children often live (a situation that will continue with the new gr. 3 entry point as the Minister explicitly said that there are no plans to expand early immersion to rural schools); that students in K-2 need to develop language skills in their mother tongue; that intermediate French is bilingualism. Still fixated on testing, teacher “accountability” and “rewards”. There is to be a new “Ministerial Advisory Group” and more “stakeholder” meetings. Nothing about increased FSL resources. In a nutshell, lots of rhetoric but the result is a mishmash that will make few happy, neither the entrenched anti-EFI people in the DoE and elsewhere, nor those who blame immersion for streaming, nor those who want children to have the opportunity to develop advanced language skills. And significantly, our system in N.B. will still remain out of step with K-12 education in the rest of the country, making moving to and from the province difficult.
Lots of rhetoric, LOTS of self-congratulation, but no mention of the primary causes of the woes in N.B. education: our lowest per-capita spending, per student, in the country, followed closely by a centrally controlled, un-democratic DoE.
Unintentionally hilarious moments: both Graham and Lamrock repeatedly congratulating themselves on overseeing a province-wide debate on education.
So yes, disappointing. Very disappointing.
[Cross-posted to Living in interesting times.]
[...] [Cross-posted from La maison.] [...]
I really cannot see any benefits from this approach. It does nothing for resources nor for second language acquisition. This is some kind of compromise that achieves nothing other than keeping NB education at the bottom of the heap. You have identified the real problems with the system, but I don’t see any hope for real change unless they gut the Dept of Ed.
Lamrock used “expert” a lot.
If literacy is to improve in New Brunswick, the province will need to de-centralize control of its educational system. Let the local schools decide on best practices.
Good luck to New Brunswickers. I wouldn’t want to move to your province.
While I can’t speak on behalf of aborignals, I can only guess that they would want school programs designed for the needs of their children. These might include aboriginal studies/languages and classes taught to their children using methods supported by an aborignal way of life. French Immersion may not be as high a priority as preserving their own culture. That is why aboriginals may have a low partipation rate in French Immersion programs. Just my guess.
Lamrock isn’t through with us yet.
He talking conciliatory but, from what I know of him, I expect that he is unhappy with how things have worked out. This is a guy with a huge ego who is used to winning his arguments. I can’t help but notice that he is only saying that THIS year’s Grade 1 class will have EFI in Grade 3 (which actually sounds like Middle Immersion to me). It looks like grade 3 is the best we can hope for our child so we’ll just have to work to start teaching him French ourselves and try to compensate for Lamrock’s ridiculous plan. But I won’t be at all surprised if next year’s grade 1 class gets hit with something else.
As a new immigrant to NB, I’m so disappointed. If I have this right – this year’s grade 1 students will get the “new” French culture modules. Grade 3 students who want to continue with French Immersion may do so. But, grade 2 students in English language schools will get nothing – no continuation of core French and none of the new material either? Grrrrr…