The needs and challenges of assessing the language skills of French immersion teachers and teachers of French as a second language in Alberta
French Immersion (FI) and French as a Second Language (FSL) teachers must be language models for students. Principals and school board administrators ensure through an evaluation process that teachers they hire have sufficient language skills to provide a bilingual learning environment for students and are committed to their ongoing improvement. Through a survey administered to 48 Alberta FI and FSL professionals followed by semi-structured interviews conducted with 4 school leaders, educators’ perspectives on the needs and challenges of French assessment were analyzed. Results indicated that a standardized language assessment process does not exist during teachers’ recruitment process and the planning of language improvement activities is often affected by the size of the school board, the location of the school, the resources available, and teachers’ language insecurities.