New Brunswick's provincial flag flies in Ottawa, Monday, July 6, 2020. New Brunswick's government has proposed a French immersion program for the next academic year with the goal of ensuring all students graduate with at least conversational level of the language. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick has proposed a new French immersion program for the next academic year with the goal of ensuring all students graduate with at least a conversational level of the language.
The government’s decision to reform French-language education has been controversial and was a main reason behind the resignation of education minister Dominic Cardy in October.
Bill Hogan, the new education minister, says reform is necessary because less than half of high school graduates in the anglophone sector are able to speak French at a conversational level.
Hogan says that starting in September kindergarten to Grade 1 students will spend half their day in “exploratory learning” in French and the other half in English for subjects such as math, reading and writing.
They will continue with this framework throughout their primary school years.
In his October resignation letter Cardy accused Premier Blaine Higgs of moving too quickly to reform the French immersion program, adding that the premier had disregarded data showing that the program was working.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2022.
