Ottawa, February 22, 2022 — Canadian Parents for French is releasing the French as a Second Language Education Enrolment Statistics for the 2019-2020 school year. The figures are obtained by the specific departments of education directly or from Statistics Canada. This document, published by CPF every year, provides a quick analysis of national trends of student enrolment in FSL programs with the data presented by province/territory and by type of FSL program.

These statistics offer a partial glimpse to the impact the pandemic has had on FSL learning programs since March 2020 but do not reflect the full disruption to learning and access as they cover the September 2019 to June 2020 school year only.

Overall the numbers remained stagnant across the country with some jurisdictions showing a slight decrease in their overall FSL enrolment figures or in a particular program. While the numbers are not alarming, they anticipate the challenges FSL education continues to endure since March 2020 and may serve as predictors to the results to be reported in the next edition.

These are some of the key findings of the 2019-2020 edition:

  • Compared to the previous year, French immersion continues to modestly grow – particularly in Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and the Yukon.
  • Compared to the previous year, there was no significant growth in core French or in the total FSL enrolment.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic the risks of students dropping out of a FSL program or of schools not being able to offer the full array of FSL programs has increased significantly. The realities of the pandemic may prove difficult to assess any positive measures taken in previous years. In 2021, CPF monitored and reported on remote learning support and resources, and where remote learning was not an option or entailed challenges of its own, offered Virtual Tutoring to encourage students and assist parents when schools were closed. CPF continues monitoring the situation and is advocating to alleviate the challenges to ensure every child can be enrolled in a French second language program of their family’s choice,” said Nicole Thibault, Executive Director, CPF National.

To download the 2019-2020 edition, please visit the CPF National Website.

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Canadian Parents for French is a nationwide, research-informed, volunteer organization that represents 34,000 members across Canada and champions the opportunity to learn and use French for all those who call Canada home.

For more information, please contact:

Marcos Salaiza, National Manager, Communications and Government Relations

Tel: 613.235.1481 x222 Email: msalaiza@cpf.ca