Mental health literacy is fundamental to improving knowledge about mental health, decreasing stigma, and, therefore, enhancing help-seeking behaviors. The purpose of this cohort study is to evaluate the impact of a mental health literacy program on preservice teachers' knowledge, attitudes, and help-seeking efficacy. Sixty preservice teachers in a Canadian university participated in a professional development day and completed a survey of their mental health knowledge, attitudes toward mental illness, and help-seeking efficacy. Compared with baseline data, results demonstrated significant and substantial improvements on all three outcomes immediately following the session and after 3 months. Provision of mental health literacy education among preservice teachers may be an effective approach to help them better address student mental health needs in their future teaching career.

Educators play a significant role in addressing student mental health. However, most educators in Canada indicate that they did not receive adequate mental health education to prepare for this role. One potential solution is to engage preservice teachers and provide professional development opportunities for improving their mental health literacy before they enter the workforce. We developed a professional development opportunity (both online and in-person) for preservice teachers to learn how to utilize a mental health literacy resource in their future classrooms. One hundred seventy-six preservice teachers in the secondary and middle years programs from a large Canadian university faculty of education voluntarily participated in this quasi-experimental study. They were assigned to 3 groups based on their demographics (preservice teachers in either the urban or rural secondary or middle years cohorts), with 1 group receiving the intervention face-to-face, 1 group receiving it online, and the third group as control. They were evaluated on knowledge, stigma and help-seeking intentions at baseline, immediately post the intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. Both the in-person and the online groups demonstrated statistically significant improvements on knowledge, stigma reduction, and enhancement on help-seeking intentions post the intervention (p Ͻ .000), compared to the control group. Knowledge and stigma outcomes were sustained at 3-month follow-up (p Ͻ .000). The use of both an online professional development and in-person delivery approaches can be considered as viable strategies to promote the mental health literacy of preservice teachers, increasing the ease and reach of this evidence-based mental health literacy resource. Public Significance StatementMental health literacy (MHL) resources have traditionally been taught using face-to-face methods. This study compared a novel online approach to the face-to-face method, as well as a control group. The results showed similar significant positive improvements of MHL in preservice teachers between the online and face-to-face methods, indicating an online method can be used where face-to-face methods may not be feasible.

Most elementary Core French instruction in British Columbia is conducted by generalist teachers. French in Grades 5 to 7 has only very recently become a provincially mandated course rather than a local option. The University of British Columbia offers off-campus second language methodology courses to address the needs of generalist teachers at a local level. A study was conducted concurrent with one such course in 1997 in Surrey, BC's second largest school district. Teachers from Surrey and Delta districts attended. The purpose of the study was to discover some of the challenges faced by generalists who teach core French and the ways in which they improved their practice throughout the course. The biggest challenges these teachers faced were a lack of specialized training, inadequate time to assimilate many curricular changes, and the need to integrate students with English as a second language or with special needs. Teachers reported on the changes in their teaching and the results of classroom research. Recommendations are made for university—school district partnerships as a means of developing professional knowledge and practice.

This article examines why students participated in British Columbia's first intensive French (IF) program between 2004 and 2008 and what they achieved as a result, with a particular focus on the effect on the French and English language proficiency of English as additional language (EAL) students. Qualitative case studies found that students and parents believe IF affords short-and long-term benefits, especially for education and employment; some, particularly EAL students and their parents, expect advantages related to Canadian citizenship. Oral French proficiency assessments of all IF students (N ¼ 357) found no significant difference between the mean proficiency results of any groups compared, but the distribution of scores showed significant differences between EAL and non-EAL students and between Grade 5 and Grade 6 students in the percentage of students achieving spontaneous communication. English proficiency assessments of EAL students in IF (n ¼ 43) showed their improvement over the school year was significantly greater than that of EAL peers not in IF (n ¼ 43). The implications of this study for inclusion of EAL learners in FSL programs and future research are discussed.

No abstract