Standardized tests are about to be introduced in francization courses, has learned The duty, but immigrants will continue to have to take tests entirely designed in France for their immigration file. At the same time, an immigrant can use their Quebec francization courses to become a Canadian citizen, but not to apply for permanent residence in the province.
Many people in the education and francization community are not taken aback by these new paradoxes. They reiterate their calls to create a Quebec test that can be used to prove the level of French necessary to immigrate or to start recognizing francization courses again. Such a project has already been defended within the ministry itself, we also learned.
“Why not kill two birds with one stone?” We could make the connection between the certified francization exams and what the ministry accepts as proof of competence in French, ”suggests for example Tania Longpré, a teacher herself, who is completing a doctorate in second language teaching.
Immigrants in francization must already pass evaluations at the end of each course level. The novelty is that these exams will become “ministerial tests”, confirmed the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI).
“From now on, we will all have to give the same exam in school service centers” across Quebec, illustrates a francization teacher who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. She specifies that teachers are frequently reminded of their “duty of reserve”, hence the recurring request that their name not be revealed.
However, the MIFI does not show the intention of using these tests on a larger scale by accepting them as proof of competence in applications for permanent residence, for example.
Since 2020, it no longer recognizes certificates from francization courses. However, this department spent more than $168 million on francization services during the last fiscal year.
Immigrants who have not completed secondary or post-secondary studies in French or who are not members of an order must therefore pass one of the eligible tests to apply for permanent residence. These tests are all designed entirely in France, corrected in part there and criticized from all sides for several years.
The irony is also that the federal government, for its part, recognizes francization as sufficient proof to obtain citizenship, a step that comes after permanent residence for newcomers.
The MIFI only indicates that “reflections are underway” to add new means to demonstrate French skills. Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette affirms that the work of adapting the tests must continue.
One of the two French authorities responsible for the tests, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris Île-de-France, claims to have already “strong demand from the Ministry […] to include more Quebec cultural referents”. She argues that the Quebec accent “is present at around 35% in the oral comprehension test”, which is contrary to what we have observed.
A not so easy project
The Department of Education had already undertaken “work that preceded the arrival of Francisation Quebec,” we are told in a joint email from the two departments. Our sources indicate that the introduction of standardized exams is already underway for levels 4 to 7, information that the ministries have not confirmed.
“Everything is under embargo, as if it were a state secret, whereas it is a question of consistency”, underlines Mme Longpre.
The idea of creating a Quebec test for immigration is not new. She was already promoted within the MIFI after the introduction of language tests in France in 2010, told the Duty a former senior official. He asked that his identity not be revealed, because his obligation of “discretion” is still applicable, even if he has ceased to hold office.
The cost of this test has even already been estimated internally at approximately one million dollars for the creation and the same amount annually to administer it. “We were never allowed to create it, even though the discussion keeps coming up,” this person notes. He suggests that the MIFI could add a test, without necessarily replacing the tests in France, and thus offer this choice “to give the chance of succeeding in the migratory journey”.
The language tests were introduced following a 2010 report by the Auditor General of Quebec on the selection of immigrants. It was deemed that the points awarded for French were “left to the judgement” of the immigration officers, and that there was a lack of information in the file to justify the number of points allocated.
A large proportion of immigrants initially took the test “everywhere internationally”, after having learned French elsewhere than in Quebec, notes Christophe Chénier, professor of French as a second language evaluation at the University of Montreal. However, immigrants are more and more numerous to first stay as temporary workers in Quebec, and therefore to learn the language with our specificities.
The financial question is unavoidable according to him. The development of such a test requires several years, a team of ten people and testing with thousands of people. In addition, there is the development of IT structures, service points, training of evaluators, content updates and others.
“The fundamental question is that whatever tool is used, it should ideally meet very high quality standards, commensurate with the issues for which it is used, because the decision to immigrate is one of the few major decisions that we take in a lifetime. »