Conference Agenda

This paper examines how professional identity and resilience develop among pre-service and early-career ESL teachers, and how belonging to professional communities strengthens teachers’ commitment to remain in the field. Drawing on my research in Quebec, I show that new language teachers often enter the profession feeling uncertain about their legitimacy and isolated within school cultures. Resilience, however, is not an individual characteristic or personality trait. Rather, it emerges through relationships, shared narratives, and sustained opportunities to reflect on practice with others who understand the linguistic and sociopolitical complexity of teaching ESL in Canada. I highlight the role of structured communities of practice, mentorship networks, and participation in professional organizations such as CASLT and SPEAQ in helping teachers build a "sentiment d’appartenance"' to a broader professional story. These collective spaces support teachers to see themselves as valued contributors, not temporary visitors. Ultimately, I argue that improving teacher retention requires designing professional ecosystems that cultivate belonging, identity, and shared purpose.

This paper examines how provincial language policy goals and board priorities are realized through system-level leadership and field-based innovation in French as a Second Language (FSL) education. As noted in OPSBA’s 2021 FSL Labour Market Issues report, “the presence of strong leadership is an important factor in both teacher retention and program success”. Grounded in the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and A Framework for French as a Second Language in Ontario Schools, the central FSL team within the Peel District School Board (PDSB) bridges policy and practice to strengthen teacher retention, foster student engagement, and build linguistic competence and confidence among both educators and students. Through initiatives such as the FSL Administrator Network, FSL Mentorship Network, and WRO: FSL Future Innovators (an action-oriented robotics experience for building communicative competence and confidence in French), this paper demonstrates how language policy can be mobilized through targeted leadership development, formalized coaching supports, and high-impact instructional strategies. These structures empower educators to translate formalized language policy principles into cohesive, transformative practices that strengthen FSL programs. This paper will illustrate how leadership ecosystems and action-oriented models can cultivate plurilingualism, foster program sustainability, and build an enduring FSL-friendly culture.

Second language initial teacher education (ITE) research suggests that action in the name of well-being and retention must not be reserved for after a new teacher is hired (e.g., Gregersen et al., 2021; Sulis et al., 2023). In the case of French as a second language (FSL) ITE, studies highlight the need to consider retention-based efforts as central to the pre-service FSL teacher preparation experience (see Arnott et al., 2023; Masson et al., 2025). In this presentation, I will share examples of touchpoints in FSL pre-service teacher education programs that are being leveraged in a Canadian Faculty of Education to promote retention across the career span. Findings from the thematic analysis of qualitative data collected via field notes, focus groups, and interviews with FSL instructors seconded by their boards to teach Faculty of Education courses (n = 10), FSL teacher practicum mentors (n = 7), and FSL teacher candidates (n = 12) will be presented. I argue that a community-based approach to FSL ITE has the potential to render long-term positive impacts on beginning-, middle- and late-career FSL teachers alike – including reduced isolation, improved well-being, and validation of lifelong learning via meaningful reciprocal mentorship opportunities (Boyer et al., 2004).

Strong and sustainable language programs in school districts don’t happen by chance—they are built intentionally through the reciprocal alignment of language policy and planning. This paper explores how deliberate, system-level design can strengthen the linguistic and cultural fabric of school divisions. Drawing from her doctoral research on teacher language proficiency in French immersion and her leadership role with Edmonton Catholic Schools, Dr. Sarah Fedoration will share how strategic planning, multiple sources of data, and current research on French immersion have informed purposeful shifts in policy and practice. Participants will see how evidence from students, parents, teachers, and system leaders can be leveraged to guide decision-making that supports both learner engagement and program retention. Through concrete examples from division-level implementation, this paper will highlight how policy and planning can work hand in hand to create coherence, sustainability, and impact across multilingual education programs. The paper invites reflection on what it means to design language learning on purpose—not by accident.