The Impact of Foundational Training
in Francophone Minority Contexts

As part of a four-year evaluation initiative, the Fédération canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français (FCAF) is assessing the relevance of the Practitioners Resource, the Trainers’ Guide for Foundational Training in Family Literacy—which it had adapted to the francophone minority context—and the training sessions provided in support of these guides. The federation has adopted two approaches to this evaluation: questionnaires and telephone interviews. Participants and trainers fill out a questionnaire at the end of the five day training session. A follow-up telephone interview is done with participants approximately six months after the training. The Groupe de recherche en petite enfance (GRPE) of the Faculty of Education at the Université de Moncton, New Brunswick, has accepted the task of analyzing the evaluation findings.

According to the preliminary data, the training guides and sessions have fulfilled a real need in terms of teaching knowledge and know-how for all participants in the training sessions. Both instructors and managers received information and advice in their language that applied to the work they perform. The majority of participants felt that no other teaching resources of similar quality were available in minority contexts.

The guides and sessions assisted practitioners and managers in grasping the various aspects of family literacy. Rather than planning their work with francophone families in isolation, they now take into consideration the entire situation and its impact on individual family members.

Differences were identified in the findings between the benefits cited by practitioners and those noted by managers. Practitioners primarily took away new knowledge, resources and techniques of potential use in their day-to-day work with families. While the guides were of more direct use to managers in preparing reports and funding applications, the training also raised their awareness of the high level of knowledge and know-how required among practitioners to achieve success in their work.

In summary, the training delivered by the FCAF was very well received at the field level. Both practitioners and managers suggested that training sessions on family literacy be offered to other individuals working with francophone children and parents, including day-care workers, kindergarten teachers and social workers. Regardless, all participants felt that the FCAF should continue the initiative and add new publications and training sessions as specific needs arise.

Rose-Marie Duguay, Ph.D.
Director, GRPE; Professor, Faculty of Education
Université de Moncton

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