Educational programs aimed at integration of immigrant youth in Quebec

In Quebec, the arrival of immigrants has changed not only the profile of Quebec society, but also its school system (Smith & Donahue, 1999). From New France to the Quiet

Revolution, religion was a defining marker of ethnicity, as well as the centre of education (Inglis, 2008; Smith & Donahue, 1999). As Mc Andrew notes (2003b), the pattern of French Canadians attending Catholic schools and White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) attending Anglo-Protestant schools continued for nearly two centuries, although it became more complex in the in the 20th century, with the establishment of Anglo- Catholic, Franco-Protestant and private religious schools to cater for immigrant or minority students who did not attend the existing schools. When Parti Québécois came to power in the 1970s, one of its first actions was the passing of the Charter of the French Language (Charte de la langue française), known as Bill 101, which rendered French as the sole official language of Quebec in all public and in business. Following this legislation, French became the language of public schooling for all, with certain legal exceptions made to Anglophone community, immigrant groups, and abrigionals who had already started their ―Anglicization‖ in English schools (Mc Andrew, 2004). The implementation of this bill seemed to be a response to the threat of a declining birth rate among Francophones and of the linguistic assimilation of immigrants by the Anglophone community (Mc Andrew, 2010).

The major impact of Bill 101 was felt by the immigrants who were obliged to attend French schools (Inglis, 2008). Since then, French schools have been transformed from homogeneous institutions aimed at the cultural reproduction of the French Canadian community into pluralistic common schools (Mc Andrew, 2003b, p. 192). For instance, in the school year of 2012-2013, immigrant origin students 9 _{made up approximately 24% of}

the whole student body in Quebec, of which 93% attend the French sector (MELS, 2013). Nonetheless, the presence of immigrant origin students does not have the same impact on schools in all the regions in Quebec. Historically, immigrants were highly concentrated on the Island of Montreal. However, recently one can observe two trends: on the one hand, immigration has become an urban-sprawl phenomenon, and on the other hand, there is a significant (though still limited) presence of immigrant population in several regions. The first trend results in a multiethnic school population in Laval as well as in

9 _{In this study, immigrant origin students are defined as the first or second generation students, including}

those who were born outside Canada and those who were born in Canada with at least one parent born outside the country.

Montreal, where immigrant origin students represent 49% and 58% of the whole student body respectively. The second trend of immigration leads to an important proportion of immigrant origin students in Outaouais and Montérégie (22% and 18%). In the region of Montérégie, Brossard is particularly touched by immigration because of its concentration of Chinese settlers. In the same school year, 64% of students of immigrant origin in Montreal attend French schools, of which 44% are allophone, while among students of immigrant origin in the English sector, 27% are allophone. It is thus important to bear in mind that a significant proportion of students of immigrant origin in the French sector have French as their mother tongue or language used at home either because it was already spoken in their country of origin or, in the case of second generation students, because they were educated in French. Yet, it is obvious that there remains a large percentage of newly arrived students who do not have any knowledge of the language in the Montreal French school system. For example, every year, 15% of the students attend welcoming classes (MELS, 2009).

The diversification of the immigrant population, not only in terms of language, but also country of origin, culture, religion, and experiences, poses huge challenges for the French school system. To fulfill the mission of school in integrating immigrant youth, it is necessary for educators and decision-makers, even the whole educational system to find ways to accommodate diversity in the school programs and practices.

Programs and measures implemented for integrating newly arrived immigrants

After the adoption of Bill 101, Quebec French educational system developed host and heritage language teaching services to students of immigrant origin as its first reaction to the diverse school population (Mc Andrew, 2001). Yet, from the 1980s to the 1990s, various initiatives aiming at the adaptation to diversity were developed with greater cultural sensitivity and an awareness of the multidimensionality of necessary adjustments to the presence of students of immigrant origin (Inglis, 2008; Mc Andrew, 2001). Despite these initiatives introduced during this period, it was not until 1998 that the Quebec Ministry of Education (Ministère de l‘Éducation du Québec, MÉQ) released a policy statement entitled ―A school for the future: Educational integration and intercultural

education‖ (Une école d‘avenir: Politique d‘intégration scolaire et d‘éducation interculturelle), in which the relation to diversity was clearly laid out. This policy statement suggested three principles to facilitate the integration of immigrant students into the school system: 1) the promotion of equal opportunities; 2) proficiency in French, the language of public life; 3) education for citizenship in a democratic and pluralistic society. According to the first principle, schools have a responsibility to ensure not only that all students have access to the basic educational services, but also to provide special conditions or compensatory measures, such as learning French (MÉQ, 1997). In terms of the second principle, educational institutions should responsible for turning out students who are proficient in the use of this basic tool of communication (Ibid). In line with the third principle, schools should promote citizenship education in order to play an active role in Quebec democracy by adopting its values, codes and norms, knowing its key institutions, and exercising the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democratic society (Ibid).

Host language teaching program-The concern with French has always been a priority in the settlement policies has influenced the design of the model of integration in the educational system (Mc Andrew, 2001). Since 1969, Quebec has opted for a welcoming class program as the first program of linguistic integration. The implementation of this program reflected the view that the best way for new arrivals to learn French was through a systematic and structured approach, which sought not only to acquire the language skills, but also to develop sensitivity to the reality and cultural codes of the host society (Ibid). A simple exposure to French was perceived ―insufficient‖ because French was not clearly the dominant language at that time (Mc Andrew, 2010). Nonetheless, with the adoption of Bill 101, which broke the monopoly on the integration of immigrants into the Anglophone community, the number of students attending welcoming classes increased and French became the common language for the schooling of students. Since then, many modifications were made to welcoming program and today it exists in various models10. In outlying regions, when the number of allophone students is too small to warrant a

10 _{Five models of Welcoming classes are identified by De Koninck and Armand (2010) in 17 areas of Quebec: 1) total}

separate class, they attend regular classes but receive FSL (French as Second Language) support (Mc Andrew, 2010). However, in Montreal, despite the emphasis of the official discourse of MELS on the diversification of welcoming programs, all the school boards adopted the model of ―separate welcoming classes‖ for both elementary and secondary schooling. In this model, students usually remain in welcoming classes for ten or twenty months (ten or twenty months for elementary school students, twenty months for secondary school students). Generally speaking, the duration of welcoming class is determined by a student‘s level of French proficiency. In 2008, among some 18, 000 students, over 85% of them resided in Montreal, attended welcoming class or were provided with linguistic support (Mc Andrew, 2007).

Heritage language teaching program-Prior to the late 1970s, heritage language were not recognized as having any role in the various measures adopted for teaching French for newly arrived immigrants (Mc Andrew, 2001). However, since 1977, Quebec has created its own heritage language teaching program- le Programme d‘enseignement des langues d‘origine (PELO) as an initiative to adapt to the diversification of the school population. PELO was offered in the regular official curriculum within public elementary schools to allophone students who have mastered French. At the beginning, these courses were only provided to native speakers of certain languages to reassure some older established cultural communities in Quebec that multilingualism was a valued complement to efforts in promoting the French language (Mc Andrew, 2010). Since 1988, non-native speakers can also register in this program. Today, 18 heritage languages are taught to some 6,000 students, but this program is less popular than expected, due to resistance of public school teachers and to the schooling choices of highly committed allophone parents, who would rather enrol their children in private trilingual schools (Mc Andrew, 2006; 2011). For Chinese parents, most choose to send their children to supplementary schools in the Chinese community to learn Mandarin.11 It is necessary to study the impact of these institutions on the identification and academic success of these Children. Also, PELO is criticized for lack of focus (Mc Andrew, 2006). Despite the

11 _{According to the findings of this study, few Chinese parents are informed with PELO. They tend to send their}

links and interactions between the host and heritage languages demonstrated by research, this program is not available for new arrivals still attending welcoming classes, and it targets only elementary school students, whereas problems in mastering French arise mainly at the secondary school level (Ibid).

Adaptation to diversity- The 1998 policy statement defined intercultural education as ―knowing how to live together‖ (le savoir-vivre ensemble) in a francophone, democratic, and pluralistic society (MÉQ, 1997). According to this definition, the Quebec government has introduced many initiatives, including the design of teaching materials and programs reflecting diversity and which are free of bias, the initial training and further education of teachers in intercultural matters as well as the representation of ethnocultural diversity in the teaching force, and the support for promoting school- family-community relationships.

From the 1980s to the 1990s, to develop an awareness of cultural differences and promote interethnic relations among students, a series of measures was taken on an ad hoc basis (Mc Andrew, 2001). By the late 1980s, the representation of minority groups had increased and overt stereotypes had been eliminated (Mc Andrew, 2010). Since the 1990s, the design of school textbooks sought to the presence of diversity and the omission of ethnocentric biases (Ibid, p.195). For instance, an analysis of history textbooks reveals an increased inclusion of immigrant and ethnic minority groups nationally, as well as non- Western civilizations internationally (Éthier et al., 2008; Mc Andrew, 1986; 2001). This improvement is particularly remarkable in the presentation and treatment of Islam and the Muslim world, in spite of the persistent limitations (Mc Andrew, 2001; 2010).

Regarding the representation of diversity in the curriculum, the largest number of commitments are made in the field of Citizenship and Community Life, which covers the teaching of geography, history, and citizenship education (Mc Andrew, 2010, p.192). In September 2008, a non-religious compulsory curriculum, Ethics and Religious Culture (Éthique et culture relgieuse), was adopted in all elementary and high schools to replace the program of religious (both catholic and protestant)/moral education (Bakhshaei, 2013,

Mc Andrew, 2010). Despite an emphasis on Christian and Native spirituality, students have opportunity to be exposed to other religious cultures, such as Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism (Mc Andrew, 2010, p. 194). In this respect, it is also important to mention the highly debated issue of ―reasonable accommodation‖, especially the place of religious diversity in schools. Indeed, in 2007, MELS struck the Advisory Committee on Integration and Reasonable Accommodation in Quebec schools, comprising representative from various areas of the educational system, including school boards, parents‘ committees, professional associations, and unions (Bouchard & Taylor, 2008; Mc Andrew, 2010). The Committee‘s report, submitted in 2007, included an update that set the record straight on the frequency and nature of requests for accommodation (Fleury, 2007). This report also reiterated and strengthened existing guidelines for recognizing diversity, proposing some practical ways of fostering harmonious negotiations between schools and parents (Fleury, 2007; Mc Andrew, 2010).

In addition, in order to hold openness to ethnocultural, linguistic, and religious diversity, since 1995, components of an intercultural or anti-racist perspective have been included in the core professional competencies for the teaching profession created by the Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sport (Ministère de l‘Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, MELS) (Mc Andrew, 2010). The 1998 Policy Statement also called for all school staff to receive training related to diversity so that they can meet the educational challenges they face (Rimok & Rouzier, 2008). A recent study indicates that although most Quebec universities offer courses related to the adaption to diversity, this issue deplores a lack of status and a systemic structure (Mc Andrew & Potvin, 2012). For practicing teachers, the Ministry, school boards, the Human Rights and Youth Commission, and community organizations offer upgrading courses on intercultural communication, intervention in multi-ethnic schools, and reasonable accommodation, but none of this training is mandatory (Mc Andrew, 2010, p.195). For non-teaching professionals, the Ministry also organizes intercultural training, although it is not a part of their compulsory courses. Despite these programs, the effort is inadequate or the impact on future teachers is not conclusive (Kanouté & Chastenay, 2009).

With respect to the recruitment and integration of teachers of immigrant origin, few of the children of Bill 101 choose teaching as a profession (Audet, 2012). This is particularly the case of Chinese youth, who have mostly chosen sciences as their fields of study when they were enrolled in universities (Statistics Canada, 2006). Thus the teaching profession has diversified through a different avenue: the reorientation of many highly skilled immigrants who (when they did not found a job in their field of specialization) filled the current shortage of teachers of mathematics as well as sciences and technology in the Quebec school system. This evolution has created two emerging challenges: the professional integration of these recent immigrant teachers and the coexistence of school personnel with diverse backgrounds (Fleury, 2009).

Finally, it is important to highlight the support offered by the Quebec government to multiethnic schools in terms of parental participation and the management of value conflict (Bakhshaei, 2013, P.37). In this regard, each year, the government provides financial support for many projects to promote school-family-community partnership. Furthermore, some programs, such as la stratégie d‘intervention « Agir autrement » (New Approaches, New Solutions), aimed at the accademic success of students from disadvantaged neighbourhoods have been implemented to facilitate the participation of immigrant parents in school activities. In 1994, the government developed a training module which allows educational administrators to develop knowledge and competencies regarding taking cultural and religious diversity into account in multiethnic schools. This training proposed a structured approach that school administrators can use to resolve value conflicts in a multiethnic and multicultural context (Mc Andrew, 2010).

1.3.4 Outcome assessment