Higgs government scraps plan to replace French immersion

The New Brunswick government is abandoning its plan to replace French immersion this fall.

Education Minister Bill Hogan announced Friday that recent consultations had revealed that the proposed change wasn't right for all students.

"This wasn't the best choice for all our children," he said.

"We want to do what's best for our children and that's why we've arrived at this decision."

The Blaine Higgs government had planned to phase in a new program for all students this fall, featuring half-days in English and half-days in French from kindergarten to Grade 5.

That would have been more French than non-immersion students get in the English prime program but less than those in immersion.

The plan provoked many questions, including whether there would be enough teachers who speak French for the program, and how some students with learning challenges would gain language skills spending only half their days in English.

"To be honest, I really thought that the framework we announced was a great idea," Hogan said. "I still think that in certain cases it could work really well. However, what we found out is that it's not in the best interests of all our children."

Hogan said he was confident the system would find enough teachers "but now we don't have to worry about it."

He said the province will launch a new process to look at how to improve the English prime program and French immersion outcomes.

"Immersion doesn't work any better today than it did yesterday. It doesn't meet the targets," he said.

The province will look at how it measures not just oral language skills but also reading, writing and comprehension with a goal of improving the program "so that our students are getting a quality French immersion education." 

The minister said that would involve a stakeholder group that will include parents, experts and the New Brunswick Teachers Association.

Registration is opening for parents who want to enrol Grade 1 students in French immersion this fall, he said.