Despite the popularity of immersion/bilingual programs across the globe, student retention from kindergarten to the last year of high school has been a preoccupying issue for decades (e.g., Boudreaux & Oliver, 2009). Past research exploring the issue has revealed that the attrition phenomenon is wide ranging, it is most significant at transition points, and that gender is an important factor to consider. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of research exploring the challenges faced by parents of students who are key stakeholders in this context, and the primary decision-makers. Thus, we lack critical understanding to remedy this issue. This presentation reports on two large-scale mixed-method studies, one conducted in the Canadian French Immersion (FI) context and the other in the Irish Immersion (IM) context, designed to fill the gap in our knowledge by exploring the experience and motivations of parents who have made the decision to pull their children out of immersion programs or not to transition to the next stage.
The pan-Canadian study exploring the issue of student retention in FI programs explored parents' decision to withdraw their child/children from FI programs. Teachers as well as administrators' perspectives were also a focus of the study. Data were collected via online surveys (parents=n184; teachers=n135; administrators=n27), followup interviews with key stakeholders (parents=n19; teachers=n14; administrators=n5), and a focus group with teachers and administrators. The findings revealed important issues commonly faced by parents, which call for both small-scale (i.e., short term, inexpensive, easily implemented) as well as large-scale interventions (i.e., long term, requiring significant funding, and political will). The analysis revealed, among other things, a lack of resources and program/course offerings in FI programs compared to the English programs, an imbalance which makes the FI stream less competitive/attractive and also less capable of supporting families with children with special education needs.
The second study conducted within the IM context was carried out in two phases. In phase one an online questionnaire was distributed to principals in a stratified random sample of IM schools (n=27). In phase two a questionnaire was administered to parents (n=321) and follow-up focus group interviews were conducted with parents (n=26). The main reasons given by parents for transfer to English-medium schools were the location of the school, its academic reputation, greater subject choice in English-medium, their children's special education needs and concerns about preparation for English-medium third level education. The analysis of both studies suggests a need for improved communication with families and between all key stakeholders (i.e., parents, teachers, and administrators) on multiple levels as well as a need for additional support and targeted professional development opportunities for both teachers and administrators.
Findings from the two studies will be compared, and the implications for student retention and future research will be discussed. Both studies view parents as key stakeholders and, thus, this proposal is clearly connected to strand theme 1.
Bourdreaux, N. & Oliver, D. (2009). Student attrition in foreign language immersion programs. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228770790_Student_attrition_in_foreign_language_immersion_programs/citations
