The New Brunswick Teachers’ Association will offer input on future French learning.

President Connie Keating says the education minister has reached out stating he’ll be in touch in the coming weeks.

Keating says teachers continue to be concerned by the under-resourcing of schools to meet students’ needs and to provide the resources to help them learn.

She says decisions need to be made in the best interest of all students, “If schools were properly resourced, we’d see, perhaps, more children going into the French immersion if they knew that with a few supports, they could be successful.”

One of the concerns brought forth through recent consultations held in the province to receive input into proposed French learning was a lack of teachers.

“I think this is where government needs to be focused. There are professional teams of educators currently at the Department of Education, who we could work very closely with to build the firm foundation that we all need in order to grow the education system,” Keating says.

She agrees we continue to see teacher shortages on a daily basis in our schools, “At this point, we know that the department has an individual who is assigned to retention and recruitment. They are making some long-term goals. But as far as making day-to-day progress, I would suggest that there has been a little bit but we definitely still see a need. On a daily basis, there are unfilled positions in our anglophone schools.”

She feels adding more resources in English Prime as well, would mean even more success.

“We heard very clearly that class composition is where the focus needs to be. Moving forward, as we meet with stakeholders, and restart the planning process, it’s really again important that we’re building a firm foundation and moving forward and putting resources where they need to be and it is very clear that within the English prime programming, that there are significant under-resourcing issues,” Keating says.

The provincial government recently decided not to go ahead with changes to French learning after much opposition from New Brunswickers during consultations.