Transcript Practices and effects of including Anglophone families in

Responding to the call: Practices
and effects of including
Anglophone families in a
Francophone school in Canada
Carla DiGiorgio, PhD
University of Prince Edward Island
Canada
Introduction
• History of French language in Canada
• Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
• The French school system
• inclusion
Goals for Francophone schools
• Welcome non-Francophone students from
target populations
• Develop school’s role as centre of French
community
• Better relations with the majority
• Develop linguistic vibrancy in school
• More early childhood services
Research questions
• How did one school attempt to become
open to target populations
• How did this affect its relationship to the
Francophone and Anglophone community?
Methodology
• Ethnographic case study
• The school
• Data collection
• Data analysis
• Research issues
Data summary
• Interview: 13 parents, 11 teachers, 8
students, 5 admin/special services
personnel, 3 teacher assistants (total 40).
• Observation: 60 days, 173 students, 20
staff.
• Documents: newspapers, school board
and school documents (total 66).
FINDINGS
1. Welcome non-Francophone
students from target populations:
Extending the school to include
Anglophone families
• Pamphlets, transportation, communication with
parents, lessons, events, language policy
What do parents want?
• French language
• Small numbers
• Attention to individual needs
• Safety
• Access to resources and services
• To be accepted
French language
• “Why? Because I’m totally French.
Bilingual. Ah, I’m not Acadian. I’m
French. Um. I wanted her because my
wife don’t speak French, I wanted her to
at least go to French school and that
would be the first uh easier way of her
learning French”.
Small class size
• “and but the main reason was class size.
Because the other schools in the area..it
was all talk about class sizes and not
enough attention for students, and we just
felt that he would get a better education
there”.
Attention to individual needs
• “But one of the things I found with the
teachers here with regard to (child), and
no doubt it’s the same with the other
students, they almost intuitively can sense
what the kids know and what they don’t
know. They can tell by, they get to know
them so well from facial reactions and
body language and stuff…you know, they
know, they really know him?”
Safety
Mom: (speaking of English school) Uh, well, it’s just kind of violent.
And there’s no supervision…
Ron: This school is leaps and bounds ahead of the other one…
Marie: She wouldn’t survive at (English school). She wouldn’t.
Ron: She’s too innocent. She’d be taken advantage of.
Marie: Beaten to death…I think it would be a lot more stressful at
another school. I’d be terrified about lunchtime with her. I’d be
terrified of school grounds. I’d be terrified about her getting a bus.
Access to resources and services
• “Well, okay. Our daughter as you know she is
delayed in a lot of aspects and we were looking
at another school, but they couldn’t guarantee
us a teacher’s assistant and they couldn’t
guarantee us the resources. And we thought
about it, and it’s like, this would be the perfect
school. Because there’s more programs
available, more funding, and (child) would be
starting basically at the level with everyone
else…We wanted her to have a good first year”.
To be accepted
• “We go in there probably maybe twice a
month anyway and bring them, just walk
into their class…and they like that?
They’re not like, ‘where are you going’ and
you know, they recognize you? And it’s
really like, I don’t know, friendly. Nice.
Ya..
Positive effects
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larger school=more resources
Larger community
Learning French
Inclusive
Parents buy in and participate: “This is just for
the parents to learn French. ‘Cause they really
want it to encompass your whole life…It’s
amazing. We love the school. We’re so happy.
Well, I love this school. (Father): I sing its
praises all the time.
Negative effects
• Language barrier for some leads to less participation:
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“That’s the only thing about that school. They don’t
make you feel unwelcome but I can’t volunteer to do
things, because I don’t speak French well enough? Like
you know to go and dole out pizza or something, you
know what I mean? That’s the only thing. So I don’t
get to.”
Different levels of language and commitment in school
Heterogeneous community
Some parents do more than others-resentment
The struggle, the balance
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French
Culture
Language
participation
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English
Growth
Academic goals
Less participation
2. Better relations with majority:
School identity in the public eye
• Media e.g. no sharing with English board
• Reputation
• Bilingual Sports collaboration
• Facility as community centre and rental
• Acceptance of families no matter what
challenges
3. Multicultural/lingual vibrancy
• Bilingual only
• Levels of ‘Frenchness’: Quebec, Acadian, Parisian: “Um,
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I’m more Acadian. There’s some- they (children) correct
me. They’re at the stage where I’ll be talking, and I
have an Acadian word that comes out, or if I’m saying
something, I’ll say one word that means the opposite of
another one, and they will correct me, which is nice to
know, that they are picking it up”.
Formality of immersion from grade one; zero tolerance
Teacher turnover and mixture of Frenchness
Multiculturalism not as pronounced, although global
transfer of clientele is evident
4. Early French education
• marketing
• Class division according to language
• Effect: streams
5. Make school centre of ‘French’
community: challenges
• Large geographic span: “yes it’s more difficult
•
because the people who attend live in the larger
area, not just the city…so it’s not obvious that
these people can form one family, and that’s
something that’s missing…they are together in
the morning, but in the afternoon they go home
in different directions”
Language gets in the way of participation
Practices and effects
• Festivals, dances, movie nights, dinners
• Appreciated more by the families who felt more
accepted (had higher needs): “Ya…and I took
the kids in and a couple of their friends actually,
to that (school festival) and they were really
impressed, like, they thought the school was
great, and the little one said, ‘I want to go to
French school too!”
Lower needs=more criticism, less
buy in
Family who chose the school for academic strength:
Dad: There’s no real standouts there.
Me: Speaking as a professional.
Dad: No stars. It may be a while for the band program to
get…
Mom: Get off the ground.
Dad: Ya. Ya.
Me: Oh, you mean the recorder playing.
Dad: Oh just pretty much everything. Ya pretty much at a
base level.
Conclusion
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Dual population, F1 and F2
Principal tried many efforts to include families
Some were successful, others not so much
Disabilities led some families to buy in to the
school’s expectations
What is community? Different families needed
different things from the school, were more or
less willing to get involved
Limitations and recommendations
• Small school, one school
• Snapshot in time, what of the present, the
future?
• Need more research into other languages,
communities
• The overlap between language and
academic needs of families interestingshift in capital.