La voix des parents de Colombie-Britannique

Federations Update

By Marc Gignac, strategic development director, Fédération des parents

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Early Learning and Family Services

The annual general meeting aside, the
2 early learning and family services issue

is currently the FPFCB's main focus of
attention. And rightly so, since the province
and the federal government have just recently
signed an agreement in principle regarding
daycare. The agreement mentions the needs
of francophone communities. This is a big step
forward in terms of access to French-langua-
ge early learning and family services and the
FPFCB plans to take full advantage of this op-
portunity to promote access.

We are also in contact with the government
Officials responsible for drafting the plan of
action to implement this agreement. On the
agenda, more daycare space and access
fo programs and services through early lear-
ning and family service centres to be housed
in francophone schools and/or community
centres. With a budget envelope of $633 mil-
lion over the next five years, we are confident
that francophone communities wishing to help
achieve the objectives of this agreement will
be eligible for financial assistance.

We are also working with the CSF (Francopho-
ne Education Authority) to explore how best
to integrate preschools into the francophone
education system. The ideal solution would be
for the CSF to assume full responsibility. Howe-
ver, fo do this, the Legislative Assembly would
have to amend the School Act fo allow British
Columbia school boards to manage preschool
services. While we await this amendment, we
will strive to find better ways to support fran-
cophone preschools in an effort to ensure in-
creased stability and enhanced development
potential.

More to follow...

CSF Strategy

In June, the CSF board of managers approved
new strategic orientations for 2005-2011. These
orientations fall within four main focuses for ac-
tion:

1. linguistic and cultural vitality of the scho-
ol communities

2. pedagogical reform

3. transparent and efficient organization

4, the school-centred community

These orientations involve numerous aspects
of francophone education that are of interest
to parents, particularly language, culture, and
community. For example:

* increase francization and literacy rates
in the school communities

* develop administrative procedures to
facilitate the integration of intercultural
families while preserving cultural diversity

* facilitate the establishment of unilingual
school communities

* promote an increase in the available
range of early learning and family
services

Of course, these objectives can-
not be achieved without the helo
of the APE and school parents.
For this reason, members of the
CSF board of managers will ad-
dress the FPFCB annual general
meeting on November 19, 2005.
At that time, the CSF will intro-
duce the orientations to parents
and discuss implementation. For
more information concerning the
strategic orientations, visit the CSF
website: www.csf.bc.ca

School Planning Committees

The SPCs will be called upon to play an impor-
tant role in implementing the CSF orientations.
It is therefore crucial for parents to be properly
equipped fo assume their role on these com-
mittees. To do this, last spring a working group
was formed to explore the current situation
and suggest strategies to the CSF to enhan-
ce support for the SPCs, particularly with res-
pect to the preparation and implementation
of plans for academic success. The working
group, which consists of CSF representatives,
school administrators, teachers, and FPFCB
representatives has already recommended
several strategies, including:

* development of resources to support
the preparation and implementation of
plans for academic success

* revision of fhe SPC manual to ensure
development of plan preparation and
implementation guidelines

* organization of regional training sessions

The CSF has approved a budget of $32,000 for
the current year as a means fo implementing
these recommendations.

This therefore — signifies
that the SPCs will soon
have fhe fools they
need to help them bet-

ter fulfil their mandate.