Integration of young Francophone African immigrants in Francophone schools in British Columbia

The purpose of this exploratory study is to provide a demographic portrait of the francophone African newcomers and document the impact of the arrival of students from sub-Saharan Africa in a number of the schools in Greater Vancouver’s Conseil scolaire francophone [Francophone Education Authority] (CSF) so that the needs of the various academic partners can be assessed. [...] While French is the common linguistic denominator of students in francophone schools in minority com- munities, the multiplicity of African languages and cultures presents a chal- lenge to the traditional vision of francophone identity, and more specifically, to the stated mission of francophone schools: to reproduce one language and one culture. [...] The question of the academic and social integration of young francophone Africans is therefore one that arises in a francophone community that is itself a minority within BC, but is also in a state of flux as a result of the arrival of new groups who are the embodiment of international Francophonie. [...] It would seem crucial that research efforts be coordinated among each of the partners involved in the young people’s education—the family, social and academic communities— since the school plays a role in the development of their cognitive structures, their self-image and their understanding of the world, and in social mobility and equality (Alitolppa-Niitamo 2004; Hohl and Normand 1996). [...] From the standpoint of examining the construction of a critical analysis of diversity management in a francophone minority context, the studies inves- tigate the role and missions of the school in pluralist societies, how content is defined, curricula,.