Parents Federation’s Update

The following is a brief review of the major issues with which
FPFCB has been involved during the past months.

Cross-cultural Families

In the October 2001 bulletin, the FPFCB announced its
intention to examine the issue of cross-cultural families
(only one francophone spouse). Indeed, this is a fact of
daily life in our schools, which are called to deal with
the sometimes delicate questions that could affect school
climate. The language of communication between the
school and the home is not the least among the numerous
issues. The FPFCB has convened an advisory committee
made up of anglophone parents. The purpose of this
committee is to advise the Federation regarding possi-
ble strategies to promote the involvement of non-fran-
cophone parents in their children’s education and in the
life of the school in general.

The committee met in April 2002. During the meeting,
the anglophone parents discussed the issue and possi-
ble solutions regarding their involvement in the school.
It became abundantly clear that the school must ensure
that anglophone parents clearly understand the content
of any information sent to them. Committee members
offered several suggestions as to how to achieve this.
Committee members also commented on the draft of a
guide for cross-cultural couples. This guide was
prepared under the auspices of the Fédération des pa-
rents francophones de |’ Alberta and the FPFCB helped
with revision. The guide was also based on the report
from Forum 2000, an FPFCB-sponsored event. One of
the themes of this forum was the involvement of non-
francophone parents in the life of the school.

Further to this meeting, the FPFCB will undertake the
following actions :
yy Distribute a guide for cross-cultural families;
sv Prepare a flyer featuring excerpts from the guide;
yr Discuss the issue at the CSF/FPFCB Liaison
Committee meeting;
vy Develop a cross-cultural training session for school
parents’ associations.
The FPFCB considers this matter a key development
priority for the coming school year.

Preschool

Two new preschool departments are about to open in
the Vancouver area. After numerous attempts over the
past 15 years, it is possible that a francophone daycare
will open within the next twelve months. The “ Ile aux
enfants ” daycare will be housed in Rose-des-vents
School. That’s quite a feat! Another soon-to-be-
achieved exploit is the opening of a francophone
preschool, also at Rose-des-vents School, in
September. The school parents are currently working
flat out to meet the deadlines that will enable them to

open the “ V’la I’bon vent” preschool in time for the
coming school year.

There has also been some development on another
preschool issue—the teaching program. Thanks to a grant
from the Quebec government and funding from Heritage
Canada, the Federation will be able to continue to develop
the preschool teaching program that it published last year
(available on our web site). A partnership agreement with
the Centre québécois de ressources a la petite enfance
(CQRPE) will give us access to resources that will help
us to publish a support document, which will include
evaluation strategies, activities to support achievement
of the program’s learning outcomes, and theme-based
teaching packages. The Quebec government funding will
also allow the FPFCB to call upon CQRPE human
resources for professional development workshops for
francophone preschool educators. These workshops will
be offered during the provincial preschool conference
scheduled for November 2002.

High School

Since its inception, the Francophone School Board has
introduced initiatives to establish high quality secondary
school programs across the province. For various reasons,
these actions have not always achieved the expected
results. The CSF’s initial intent was to set up homogeneous
high schools. To do this, it had to assemble enough clients
to be able to provide a program comparable to the anglo-
phone program. Since numbers are limited and clientele
is dispersed over a wide area, it is clear that, except in the
major centres, this concentration of clients does not exist
elsewhere.

A round table on secondary education met last October
to discuss this issue. It was concluded that we have to
initiate individual planning for each school community
wishing to establish a high school program. This plan-
ning, to be based on parameters determined jointly by the
CSF and its partners, must address the needs and aspira-
tions of the particular school community.

A task force convened to recommend parameters
concluded that it was virtually impossible to do so without
removing the flexibility needed to handle the various lo-
cal situations. The group therefore identified criteria and
proposed a procedure to allow the school communities
wishing to establish or develop a secondary education
program to prepare a plan of action. Once drafted, this
plan of action would be submitted to the CSF for approval.
CSF approval would reaffirm its commitment to
implementation of the plan of action and the consequent
investment of required resources. This approach provides
the flexibility needed to adjust to the various situations
of the school communities and to meet the needs and as-
pirations of these groups. If you’re interested, let us know!

PAGE 6 INFO-PARENTS