The poor status of French among students may have made headlines in recent weeks, but Quebec is refusing to publish a report it has had in its hands for a year that looks at the difficulties faced by CEGEP students on the matter.
Posted at 5:00 am
In September 2021, the Minister for Higher Education stated that the success rates for the standardized French test that students have to pass at the end of their university career “are not what one would like”. .
Danielle McCann therefore commissioned a working group to examine the difficulties in French among CEGEP students.
“I would like a diagnosis to know why we are having these difficulties,” the minister said at a press conference.
The report “is currently being analyzed”, according to the Ministry of Higher Education. What is the state of affairs and should action be taken to improve French language among college students? Impossible to know.
On January 9, the Ministry of Higher Education refused a request for information from La Presse to obtain this report on the grounds that they were “documents drawn up by or on behalf of the Minister’s office”.
In the office of new minister Pascale Déry, we confirm that she has read the report and that we will be kept “up to date on developments regarding its publication”.
The authors of the report cannot grant an interview on the subject as they are “always bound to confidentiality pending the publication of the report”.
“We, like you, await its publication and can speak to you about it when it is published,” wrote Godeliva Debeurme, retired professor at the University of Sherbrooke, and Marie-Claude Boivin, full professor at the University of Montreal, and Lison Chabot, retired director of studies at Cégep de Beauce-Appalaches.
They confirm to La Presse that they presented their conclusions in Quebec in January 2022.
“It’s inconsistent”
The Quebec Collegiate Student Federation (FECQ) also wants to know what recommendations Minister Déry has in his hands.
“It’s contradictory that it’s not coming out,” said Maya Labrosse, president of the FECQ.
If we decide to set up a working group on the issue of French language proficiency, it means that there is a problem to be solved. If a report contains recommendations, we do not see why they should not be made and published.
Maya Labrosse, President of the FECQ
Danielle McCann said in 2021 she wanted to “improve learning and fluency in the French language”. “I think this is the way to improve the graduation rate,” explained the minister.
Regardless of the discipline studied, a knowledge of French is essential, Ms McCann added.
The FECQ would like the French difficulties of the students to be determined by a test when they enter the university and calls for better financing of the French support centers in the CEGEPs.
The association also believes that measures to master the French language must be taken before joining CEGEP. The majority of school service centers in Quebec have noticed that their students’ pass rate on their most recent lower secondary written French exams has decreased.
In some places, every second student failed the grade.