Table of contents

Overview

Alberta’s portion of the regular funding is divided between minority-language francophone education and French second-language instruction, and each of those respective portions is divided between Education and Advanced Education. The resources below provide more information about Education’s portion of regular Official Languages in Education Programs (OLEP) funding in Alberta.

Minority-language (francophone) projects

The 4 francophone regional authorities in Alberta collaborate with the Federation of Francophone School Authorities of Alberta (FCSFA) in designing and implementing the initiatives included in the Alberta action plan.

This video provided by the Greater North Central Francophone Education Region gives an example of some of the project activities that support francophone education in Alberta (French only).

The OLEP funded activities include:

  • full-time kindergarten, including the provision of necessary resources and support;
  • initiatives to support the academic achievement of learners, including:
    • language development in the Grade 12 Français course
    • access to specialized services and support for the students
    • the development of an assessment approach in order to guide teaching practices focused on concept-based learning in relation to curriculum redesign;
  • mental health activities;
  • promotion and advertisement in order to recruit a growing number of children entitled to francophone education;
  • development of strategies to recruit teachers and French language education specialists such as speech and language therapists and psychologists;
  • development of interactive learning items, in partnership with the Centre d’éducation francophone à distance (CFED) – French distance education centre, to better meet the needs of online teaching;
  • professional development opportunities in French for teaching staff offered in collaboration with the Consortium provincial francophone pour le perfectionnement professionnel (CPFPP) – Francophone Provincial Consortium for Professional Development;
  • cultural and leadership activities offered in partnership with:
    • FJA (Francophonie jeunesse de l'Alberta – Alberta Francophone Youth Association)
    • FSFA (Fédération du sport francophone de l’Alberta – Federation of Francophone Sports of Alberta)
    • ACFA (Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta – French-Canadian Association of Alberta)
    • the youth component of ACELF (Association canadienne d’éducation de langue française – Canadian Association of French Education) and many more.

French second-language projects

The aim of funding for French second-language projects is to increase collaboration between school authorities and ensure knowledge and resources across the province are shared and benefit as many students as possible.

Note: Alberta Education is not accepting applications for projects at this time. If you are interested in accessing OLEP project funding, contact the OLEP office at [email protected] or 780-427-2940.

Organizations

  • Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPDC)

    Description

    This video provided by the ARPDC describes their project activities.

    The ARPDC consists of a collective of seven consortium offices across the province:

    • Northwest Regional Learning Consortium (NRLC)
    • Learning Network Educational Services (LNES)
    • Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium (ERLC)
    • Central Alberta Regional Consortium (CARC)
    • Calgary Regional Consortium (CRC)
    • Southern Alberta Professional Development Consortium (SAPDC)
    • Consortium provincial francophone (CPFPP) which serves the Francophone school authorities across the province and provides targeted support to the six regional offices in French Language services and professional learning support.

    The individual and collective consortia work to provide professional learning opportunities for teachers, administrators and educational assistants.

    Additionally, ARPDC works with parents in consultation and session support where appropriate. Each of the consortia maintain a French Language Advisory group with representation from each of the school divisions in the region. Through the work of the advisory committees and in alignment with government priorities, ARPDC works to support Francophone and French second language teachers with a specific focus on:

    • improved teacher efficacy
    • improved practice in the classroom in all aspects of instruction and assessment
    • efforts that support the retention and sense of a community of learning

    Administrative and Financial Agent

    The organization that administers the project operations and its finances in collaboration with the respective partners:

    College of Alberta School Superintendents (CASS)

    Partners

    ARPDC work with all School Divisions and Independent schools as well as with regional teacher convention boards and where appropriate regional Mental Health and/or Alberta Health committees.

  • Metropolitan Edmonton Regional French Immersion Programs (MERFIP)

    Description

    This video provided by MERFIP describes their project activities.

    MERFIP is a collaborative group made up of nine school boards that has been in existence since 1997 that works to:

    • support French immersion teachers and leaders of member divisions
    • promote and enhance French as a target language
    • develop and expand leadership in French Immersion programming
    • collaborate and share expertise based on current research and pedagogy in second language learning
    • facilitate professional learning activities in response to emerging needs
    • procure and develop resources to respond to local needs
    • liaise with Alberta Education and other second language learning stakeholders and support schools in the implementation of new curricula

    Administrative and Financial Agent

    The school division that administers the project operations and its finances in collaboration with the respective partners

    Black Gold

    School Division Partners

    • Black Gold
    • Edmonton Catholic Separate
    • Edmonton
    • Elk Island Catholic Separate
    • Elk Island School
    • Greater St. Albert Roman Catholic Separate
    • Parkland
    • St. Albert
    • St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic

  • Grande Prairie French Language Resource Centre

    Description

    This video provided by the Grande Prairie French Language Resource Centre describes their project activities.

    The Grande Prairie French Language Resource Centre’s mission is to enhance the delivery of French education in Northwestern Alberta by providing a variety of exciting services and educational materials for teachers:

    • Professional Development - Conferences and Workshops
    • Access to Professional Development
    • Travel bursaries
    • Official examination centre for the DELF, DALF and DELF for Schools
    • Cultural Events Partnership with France (virtual partnerships, job-shadow opportunities, student exchanges)
    • Exchanges
    • An up-to-date collection of over 9000 quality support resources for French as a Second Language, French Immersion and Francophone programs. All resources are housed at the French Language Resource Centre at the Grande Prairie Public Library.

    Administrative and Financial Agent

    The school division that administers the project operations and its finances in collaboration with the respective partners

    Peace Wapiti

    School Division Partners

    • Peace Wapiti
    • Grande Prairie Public
    • Grande Prairie Catholic
    • High Prairie
    • Peace River
    • Holy Family Catholic Regional
    • Northwest Francophone Education Region

    Other Partners

    • Association canadienne française de l’Alberta, Grande Prairie Chapter
    • Canadian Parents for French, Grande Prairie Chapter
    • Grande Prairie Regional College
    • Northwest Regional Learning Consortium
    • Peace Library System
    • Grande Prairie Public Library

  • Institute for Innovation in Second Language Education (IISLE)

    Description

    This video provided by IISLE describes their project activities.

    Edmonton School Division, with its IISLE, uses local and federal project funding for a wide range of purposes to support its own students, families and staff as well as those of other school divisions. IISLE supports the teaching and learning of French, both French Immersion and French as a Second Language, in Alberta and across Canada. The supports provided include:

    • development of key teaching, learning and leadership resources (especially for literacy, numeracy, and quality programming) including those publicly made available through the languages section of The Resource Hub at Edmonton Public Schools
    • provision of a French Resource Centre, which houses a collection of over 23,000 resources
    • provision of support for teacher and leadership professional learning (institutes, conferences, online and face-to face in-services, asynchronous online learning modules, coaching, consultations, etc.) for Division and external teachers and leaders.
    • provision of the DELF exam and preparation/training to hundreds of students and teachers
    • support for cultural events and activities, school and student twinnings and exchanges, and other local, national and international interactions to build second language proficiency, global citizenship skills and cultural understanding
    • support for program expansion, especially for French Immersion, including new teacher supports, resource support, etc.

    Administrative and Financial Agent

    The school division that administers the project operations and its finances in collaboration with the respective partners

    Edmonton

    School Division Partners

    IISLE at EPSB regularly collaborates with other school divisions in Alberta through various means including:

    • Alberta French Language Education Consortium (AFLEC)
    • Multi-District Assessment Think Tank—collaborating school divisions for 2020-21 include:
      • Edmonton
      • Foothills
      • Horizon
      • Aspen View
      • Calgary Roman Catholic Separate
      • Wild Rose
      • Medicine Hat
      • New Horizons
      • Calgary
      • Elk Island
      • Elk Island Catholic Separate
      • Prairie Rose
      • Greater North Central Francophone Education Region
      • Battle River
      • Evergreen Catholic Separate
      • Grande Yellowhead

    Other Partners

    IISLE at Edmonton School Division also maintains formal ongoing partnership agreements and collaboration with organizations such as:

    • Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT)
    • Alliance française of Edmonton
    • Language Research Centre at the University of Calgary
    • Académie de Grenoble
    • French Embassy in Canada

  • Southern Alberta French Resource Centre (SAFRC)

    Description

    This video provided by the SAFRC describes their project activities.

    Accessing quality resources can be a challenge for French language teachers and the SARFRC assists to alleviate this barrier. The geographic region of their partnering school divisions spans hundreds of kilometers and the SARFRC facilitates the delivery of resources to remote locations. The SARFRC Resource Director is responsible for familiarity with materials to assist teachers in finding and supplying desired resources.

    The Vera Bracken Library at the Medicine Hat College houses the French resource collection. The college is centrally located and easily accessible to teachers, students and the public requiring access to French resources. The college also has an education department and student teachers have easy access to resources at the SAFRC during their studies and beyond.

    In addition to supplying a significant resource base to support French language instruction, the SAFRC supports cultural resources and provides information services.

    Administrative and Financial Agent

    The school division that administers the project operations and its finances in collaboration with the respective partners

    Medicine Hat

    Partner School Divisions

    • Medicine Hat
    • Medicine Hat Roman Catholic Separate
    • Prairie Rose

    Other Partners

    • Medicine Hat College

Contact

Connect with the Alberta Official Languages in Education Programs (OLEP) office:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-427-2940
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

Related

French language education in Alberta

Student population statistics

Francophone heritage in Alberta

Francophone Secretariat

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