Federal Jurisdiction

Across Canada, ethnocultural communities have consistently expressed concern about the lack of equitable, accountable services for ESL students and the consequent impact on academic achievement. While language proficiency is needed for academic education, it is also crucial to the overall integration of all students with immigrant backgrounds into Canadian society. Yet, the federal government has not had any active role in developing a national strategy for ESL education for children and youth.

The Council of Ministers of Education of Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada need to develop national strategies for ESL education that deal with national benchmarks for academic language proficiency, ESL curriculum, identification and assessment of ESL students, guidelines for hiring and deployment of professionally trained ESL personnel, service programming and implementation.

Federal departments need to (1) share financial responsibility with the provincial governments in assisting ESL students to acquire official language proficiency, (2) work with the provincial governments to provide ESL students with complementary support in acquiring language proficiency, and (3) invest in community-based and school-based projects that help ESL students integrate into Canadian society. They also need to collaborate with the public education system to establish vocational programs for ESL students with low literacy skills or sporadic formal education.

Provincial Ministry of Education

Though it is clear that language proficiency is simply the core of the educational journey for ESL students, Alberta Education has not recognized ESL education as a core subject for ESL students. Alberta Education has not addressed many educational challenges that negatively affect ESL students, including:

an age cap that applies to all Alberta students. This bars students from schools in the year they turn 19. The age gap is detrimental to ESL students who arrive later in their schooling and are unable to acquire language proficiency and complete their high school graduation requirements in the traditional timeline
a lack of ESL funding for kindergarten students and a need for the development of ESL curricula for Kindergarten to Grade 9
a lack of accountability mechanisms to ensure that funding to which ESL students are entitled follows them to their classrooms.

Under the newly established funding framework, school boards no longer need report to Alberta Education in quantifiable terms how they have used the ESL Supplementary Grant to provide ESL services. The rationale is that school boards need more flexibility to address their local needs and that they are directly accountable to the community. There are still no provincial programs of study for ESL in grades K to 9. Recently, Alberta Education has introduced a five year cap on ESL Supplementary funding. This restriction will have long term service impact for typical ESL learners who require between 5 and 7 years to acquire academic proficiency, and particularly ESL learners from a refugee background who often need long term literacy and education support.

Alberta Education has yet to recognize ESL as a core subject in order to ensure mandated funding, curriculum and instruction for ESL education. Alberta Education further needs to:

Increase resources for ESL services by (a) enveloping part of the Basic Instruction Grant and (b) tripling the ESL Supplementary Grant;
Remove the age cap;
Extend ESL funding to kindergarten;
Develop ESL curricula for kindergarten to grade 9; and
Establish a provincial ESL taskforce to deal with ESL issues.

Local School Boards

Only the Edmonton Catholic School Board and the Calgary Board of Education respectively have formulated specific ESL policy and administrative regulations. However, these policies and regulations do not address many important issues related to standardized identification, assessment, instruction, monitoring and tracking of students; funding and accountability measures; hiring and deployment of professionally trained ESL personnel; mandated staff development in the areas of ESL education and cultural competency, and so forth. An examination of current ESL services in school boards reveals:

lack of an ESL service delivery model that is based on sound educational theory of second language acquisition;
lack of coordinated services;
lack of formal curricula for kindergarten to grade 9;
lack of a rationally sound funding formula for adequate ESL services;
lack of an accountability framework to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of ESL services;
lack of centralized services;
lack of mechanisms for assessing and monitoring academic progress of ESL students; and
lack of qualified ESL personnel.

School boards have yet to develop ESL programs that are based on sound educational theory of language acquisition, to allocate adequate resources to ensure equitable ESL services, and to demonstrate coordinated, sustainable efforts to facilitate positive results in terms of effective acquisition of second language and reduction of dropout rates. School boards need to develop ESL policies and procedures that are operationalized in practical terms to demonstrate delivery of mandated services, equity and accountability. They further need to:

Designate ESL as a system level program;
Establish a transparent, coordinated budgeting process;
Match the ESL Supplementary Grant with funding from the Basic Instruction Grant; and
Ensure that schools are accountable for ESL monies.

Community

Parental participation is a crucial part of effective public education. It ensures equitable input, collaboration, and accountability, which in turn promote responsive services to address unique needs in the diverse student population. For ethno-cultural parents, their participation in the public school system means empowerment, access to school decision structures, active citizenship, and overall integration into Canadian society.

At present, parents of ESL students have yet to realize meaningful, equitable participation in the school education system. Studies have demonstrated the positive impact of parental participation on minority children's educational outcomes, yet parents of ESL students are notably absent at teacher-parent interviews, school council meetings, school board meetings and educational forums. An interplay of individual and institutional factors contributes to a lack of equitable participation in school among parents of ESL students. Those factors include the following:

problems in communication;
lack of understanding of the education process;
lack of understanding of rights and responsibilities;
being new to the country;
impersonal or unwelcoming institutions; and
lack of outreach activities.

Community groups need to work with parents of ESL students to be actively involved in the decision making process in public education. They need to work with parents to enhance their understanding of ESL education, as well as to empower parents of ESL students to participate equitably in the school system. Community groups also need to maintain and enhance dialogue and collaboration with educational stakeholders to improve ESL service delivery.

Your Role

Join the Coalition to learn more about ESL issues and take collective action/p>

Write, telephone, email your MP to express concerns about ESL education. For contact information call 1-800-O-CANADA or visit www.canada.gc.ca.

Write, telephone, email Alberta Education and your MLA to express concerns about ESL education. For contact information call 310-0000, or visit www.gov.ab.ca.

Email us your stories, opinions, and ideas to improve ESL education.