Since February 2022, much attention has been given to displaced newcomer children from war-torn Ukraine in Canadian schools. In Western Canada, many newcomer families enrolled their children in Ukrainian-English bilingual schools in centres where these programs are offered.
As newcomers arrived, bilingual schools welcomed the increase in enrolment. However, administrators and teachers soon discovered that they were unprepared for the rapid change in demographics. Differing language and learning needs, parental expectations, and staffing shortages emerged.
After four years of newcomer arrivals, it is clear that several challenges are affecting the quality of bilingual programming and its future success. This presentation addresses four challenges: bilingual curricula, resources, teacher training, and parental involvement.
This webinar was presented as part of an ongoing series about current issues in Ukrainian Language Education organized by the Ukrainian Language Education Centre (ULEC) at the University of Alberta. Nadia Prokopchuk, PCUH Academic Affiliate, is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this series. The recorded webinar is available here: https://youtu.be/zamT6Bxt2Rc