The Association canadienne des professionels en immersion / Canadian Association of Immersion Professionals (ACPI/CAIP) conducted a study to document and quantify the status of the French Immersion teacher shortage across Canada in follow-up to its 2017 Canada-wide consultation with 900 respondents who identified the shortage of qualified French Immersion (FI) teachers as a major national issue. Approximately 70% of respondents indicated that they were experiencing a shortage. The same finding was reported about other French as a Second Language (FSL) programs by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT) and the National Table on French as a Second Language (NTFSL) / Table nationale du français langue seconde (TNFLS).
The study, conducted between December 2020 and August 2021, was based on a literature review, interviews and an online questionnaire survey administered to school boards and principals offering FI and FSL programs. The survey received responses from 934 schools in every Canadian province and territory. This sample represents about 26% of schools offering FI, which is considerable, but only about 5% of schools offering other types of FSL programs in Canada. The survey collected data on the full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers who are in place in programs but are not qualified and the FTEs who would have been required to give the classes that were requested but not offered.
A report of the study was released in October 2021.
The National Table for French as a Second Language(NTFSL), a bilingual organization, was created in 2019. Its mandate is to to bring together key players in the field of French second language learning.
