Public school board to get rid of French immersion in SK, Grade 7

Faced with a shortage of French speaking teachers and a high demand for the program across the region, the Thames Valley District School Board is moving to change how it offers French immersion by next September. 

In a report going to the school board Tuesday night, staff recommend getting rid of French immersion in senior kindergarten (SK), when most kids start in the program, as well as in Grade 7, a less popular entry point. 

The recommended changes to the French immersion program will be presented to Trustees for their approval. 

The plan would "redeploy SK teachers to help address staffing challenges" and would address the lack of French fluency of early childhood educators, who work in the kindergarten classroom alongside teachers. 

"Research does not support differences in outcomes for SK and Grade 1 entry," the board report says. 

The school board report states that entry into Grade 7 will be phased out over two years as it isn't as popular as the SK or Grade 1 entry. 

The change takes effect September 2020.

The fact that there's no French immersion in junior kindergarten has already been frustrating for some families, who send their children to one school for JK and then transfer them to a French immersion school for SK or Grade 1. 

Teacher shortage

This newest change will have further impact on families such as Krista Arnold's, who already has one child in senior kindergarten in French immersion but has two younger kids. 

"It seems to me, the hard curriculum really starts in Grade 1, so if they can have that softer introduction to French while they're playing in the classroom in JK, that would be helpful," she said. 

"My husband and I have travelled a lot, and we realized that English speakers are often the only ones who only know one language. We see the benefits of having a second language, so we want to give that to our kids." 

Canada has a nation-wide shortage of French-language teachers, which has hit a pressure point at the same time that French immersion programs have become increasingly popular.