In operation as of Thursday, Francisation Québec, the single point of service entirely managed by the Ministry of Immigration, is far from unanimous, learned The duty.
Concerned, actors in the school network deplore the fact that we have deprived ourselves of their expertise and point out the pitfalls of the project. “The Department of Education has lost the battle for francization,” says Diane Laberge, director of the Louis-Jolliet francization center, the largest in Quebec.
After a 35-year career in francization, it was as a representative of the Association des cadres scolaire du Québec, on the advisory committee responsible for setting up Francisation Québec, that she agreed to confide in the Duty.
“We are slipping into a position of subcontractor for the MIFI [le ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration]. We receive his orders and we execute, ”she says, saying that she was disillusioned at the first meeting of the committee. “I would have preferred us to build together rather than being told what to do. »
Tania Longpré, who is completing a doctorate in second language teaching while teaching francization in Terrebonne, does not understand why Francisation Quebec is not managed by the Ministry of Education. “The specialists are there. His remarks are echoed by several actors in the school network to whom The duty spoke, but who keep their names secret, in particular because they have signed confidentiality agreements with the MIFI. “I think we bet on the wrong horse. »
For Diane Laberge, the school life of the francization centres, which all come under the Ministry of Education, is “very different administratively, pedagogically and humanly speaking” from that of the environments where the MIFI manages francization. She finds it unfortunate that by concentrating all management powers in her hands, the Department of Immigration is setting aside the expertise of the school network. “We will have to give up on a lot of actions that we did for the benefit of students in francization. »
One of these operations is placement testing. Unlike the francization centers, which assessed the student’s oral and written skills, the MIFI will continue, with some exceptions, to only assess the oral – on Teams, this time, he said. we confirmed at Duty during the presentation of the platform on Monday. “We, in our centers, receive the students, we see them, we talk to them and we take the time it takes to assess them properly,” said Ms.me Laberge, being proud of this personalized welcome.
Tania Longpré says that she is reassessing all students who come to her school after being assessed by the MIFI “because their rankings are not good”. “We have people who come in and speak, say, level 7 French, but when we reassess them taking into account the written word, they drop to level 4.”
Waiting list and benefit delays
According to information from Duty, the delays in some francization centers are several months, sometimes up to six. “I expect a bottleneck,” says Tania Longpré, who notes that there are already almost two months of waiting at her center. “The MIFI manages half of the service requests, and it’s a 50-day wait. How will he manage to manage all the demand without the delays getting longer? »
She also points to the slowness of the MIFI in granting allowances to students. “We receive students who are tired of waiting for their allocation, but who end up registering with us and starting lessons. They complete one or two levels of francization before being paid,” notes Ms.me Longpre.
Diane Laberge observes the same thing at the Louis-Jolliet center. “Currently, we have students who have been with us for six-eight months, but who are still waiting for their allowance,” she laments. “These are not people who come here with a personal fortune! »
Avoid a “SAAQclic scenario”
Several people in the school network mentioned Duty that they were afraid of experiencing the same failures as SAAQclic, launched in the spring. However, precisely to avoid any computer crashes, as of today, only newcomers wishing to take part-time courses and Canadian citizens will be able to complete their registration in the new Learning French platform, learned The duty. For the others, i.e. immigrants taking full-time courses, the MIFI confirms that “it was decided to maintain the current system” and they will instead be directed to the Arrima platform, with which they already work.
In summary: the front door is the same for everyone, but there are two different computer corridors to lead to the registrar. However, the MIFI promises to integrate the two systems and there will be only one platform for everyone at the end of the three implementation phases.
On the school network side, the technological challenge is just as great. “There are still a lot of things to tie up,” notes Diane Laberge. For example, since the computer systems of the education network are different from those of the MIFI, the francization centers will have to, during the first year of implementation, “double-enter” the information on their approximately 1,200 students, both in their system and on the portal. “And over the weeks, we will have to report to the MIFI on the attendance of students and notify them of any change in schedule,” she explains.
On the eve of her retirement, Diane Laberge says she is still trying to remain optimistic. “We’re going to live on hope and we’re going to try to believe in the harmonization of systems and in administrative streamlining,” she says. In any case, we are going to make sure that our students suffer as little as possible. »