1

CONTROVERSY CON'T °°

the Programme Cadre would be implemented. Guidelines issued: in ‘June;

1978, stated clearly that the program was "designed for students of
French-speaking parents who are capeble of being taught prescribed sub-
jects in the French language. It is not an immersion-type program for
students wishing to learm French as a second language."

During the past year about 220 elementary students in 11 school
districts were enrolled in the Programme Cadre. Usually the classes
were made up of a small number of children in several grades. Reports ©
from teachers, parents, and students have been enthusiastically support-
ive of the program.

New Ministry guidelines issued in April 1980, have opened enrolment
in the Programme Cadre to all elementary students: "It is the policy of
the provincial government to make it possible for parents to have a
choice of either official language as the language of instruction for
their children." As a result, anglophone parents in several districts
which do not offer immersion are taking advantage of this opportunity
for their children to become bilingual. a

Penticton Parents Disappointed -

However in Penticton, Trustees have unanimously turned down requests
to implement Programme Cadre. This decision was based on an administra
tive study of educational and financial implications of offering the
program to anglophone students.

The major concern is over funding. The school board is wanting
assurances that ministry assistance for extra costs involved in offer~
ing the program will be available for anglophone as well as francophone
students and that it will be available for more than one year. -

A second stumbling block seems to be the fact that almost all of
the interested families in Penticton are anglophone. Many of these
children are entering grade 2 or higher. There is concern that they
would require preparatory French instruction and that opening enrol-
ment to all would resuit in a watered-down program. oO

Requests for guidance in the interpretation of ministry policy
have gone to the Ministry of Education from the Penticton district,
the B.C. school Trustees' Association, the Federation des Franco-
Colombiens, and the B.C. Chapter of Canadian Parents for French. Over
90 Penticton parents have sent a petition to Education Minister Brian
Smith with @pies to Premier Bennett, local M.L.A. Jim Hewitt, and others

- requesting clarification of the ministr's financial commitment to the

Programme Cadre, .

The Penticton Administration has now been instructed to study the
feasibility of offering Immersion. The main question is whether such a
small district can support an optional alternate program. Penticton
Parents for French hope to prove that there is enough interest within
the community to ensure adequate class sizes. ;

Questions and Misunderstandings

in the meantime other questions surround the Programme Cadre. For
instance, the objectives of the program have not been meade clear. Many
are concerned that graduates of the program will be lucking'in English
language skills, despite the constamt exposure to imglish which the
students receive outside of school and the formal instruction which they
receive in every grade. Others wonder about t..e difference in French
skills which might be expected between graduates of the Cadre program
and immersion programs: if the difference is not to be Significant, why
does one program continue at about 80% instruction in French throughout
while the other often drops to 50% by grade four? °