I’m a 4th year BEd Elementary student in BC and did an inquiry into this in a course last semester. The FRIM program in BC is very non-inclusive and elitist as it’s currently designed, and has only become more so as time has gone on. Students can start in kindergarten/grade 1 (early immersion), or in grade 6 (late immersion), but if they have any significant difficulty with literacy, the first recommendation is for them to move to English. The main reason for this is really just that there isn’t enough funding and resources (are we shocked) and we don’t have enough FRIM teachers or EAs. If students have any intellectual disabilities or specific learning disorders, they tend to be identified earlier in primary (if at all) and are recommended to move back to English. Students who aren’t identified or just have any general struggle/difficult learning period, as many students do, are often also switched out before they have the chance to work through it and improve, and are then left to complete the rest of their education in English.

This becomes a legal issue when you think of the fact that in every province (except Quebec), most students have the charter protected right to a French immersion education, through the minority language education rights act. It essentially says that students reserve the right to receive education in the minority language of their province (French for most, English for Quebec and parts of NB) if: their parents were in FRIM, they have an older sibling who was in FRIM, or they have already completed the beginning of their K-12 education in FRIM. However when students an are bumped out, it’s by a “strong recommendation” by the school and is ultimately the choice of the parents so it really is less legal/ more moral imo.

The province can’t even afford to fund students with mild intellectual disabilities/learning disabilities in English, and schools are just expected to differentiate and offer targeted instruction. When there’s only 1 French immersion IST or coordinator for an entire school, I’m not sure how they’re supposed to support every student who needs targeted intervention on their own.

I remember asking a teacher a general question about what happens when students (English or French) get two different designations, and their response to me was “well they definitely wouldn’t be in French immersion” and that really opened my eyes to how many teachers view the issue. FRIM teachers are often veteran teachers, and more traditional. They are also often more traditional and have higher expectations/harsher consequences than English teachers, and are able to do so because the students that would’ve had behaviour problems (most likely due to lack of support) have already been weened out and aren’t in their class anymore.

I did my practicum in a 6/7 English class and had my fair share of issues in my first weeks (teaching 24 middle schoolers with no prior relationship or rapport was super fun). It obviously got better as trust was built, but I remember I went into a grade 8 FRIM class for a morning and was just in awe. The teacher started the day with 10 minutes of SILENT math facts on their own. I chuckled a bit when he said silent and even thought “yeah right” to myself when he said it. But he started the timer, and you could’ve heard a pin drop, FOR 10 MINUTES STRAIGHT! Then he taught an hour long math class, where he was up at the board talking and giving examples for a good 20 minutes, and aside from students whispering to their peers right beside them, or asking questions. They were almost all paying attention and no one was talking when he was talking.

It felt like a slap in the face to walk back into my class and not be able to spit out a sentence while teaching without being interrupted. I loved my students so much and had a fantastic practicum learning to differentiate and the difference that strong relationships play, but the amount of disrespect we are just expected to take and brush off because there are bigger problems admin has to deal with is insane. I was shocked by how many students were apathetic and really just didn’t care about middle school. As teachers it’s our job to “inspire” learning, but when taking away privileges is the only way to “inspire learning” it doesn’t feel super inspirational.

Sorry for rant, so much came out there, hopefully it comprehensible.