If fiscal pressures force the sa国际传媒 school district to chop programs, the axe should swing first through the French immersion program.聽
Thatsa国际传媒 one finding of a district-wide survey that drew just over 2,000 respondents from parents, teachers, students and community members.聽
French immersion received the lowest priority among 18 district objectives and services in summary of survey responses presented last night in a report to school board trustees.聽
Other service areas drawing relatively low levels of support in the event of the need for cost-cutting measures included diversity and inclusion schemes and child care. Greatest priority was given to staffing and classroom support, curriculum and programming, and core academics.聽
sa国际传媒 12 cent of the 25,000 students enrolled in sa国际传媒-area public schools are enrolled in French Immersion. The program is offered in eight elementary schools and seven middle and senior high schools.聽
Province-wide, enrolment in French Immersion programs has been declining since 2020, according to the lobby group Canadian Parents for French. The proportion of students in French immersion in sa国际传媒 is now below nine per cent, after staying above that level for the eight years dating back a decade.聽
鈥淭here has been a small but consistent decline in the number of students enrolled in French immersion in public schools over the last four years,鈥 the group said in August 2024. 鈥淚tsa国际传媒 not a trend we would expect considering the continued popularity of French immersion and the annual wait lists in a number of school districts.鈥
Some advocates for French immersion say schools have not done enough to promote the benefits of the program and the advantages of being fluent in two languages. But districts routinely struggle to hire enough qualified French-speaking teachers to offer and expand the program.聽
Measured against enrolment in the surrounding school district, the number of students taking French immersion is significantly below the provincial average in some large Lower Mainland cities, such as Vancouver and Surrey.聽
