In 1988, the Government of Alberta approved the Language Education Policy for Alberta. The purpose of this policy was to set a clear direction for future actions in the areas of:
- English language instruction for all Alberta students
- French language instruction for children of section 23 parents
- Instruction in French as a Second Language
- Instruction in languages other than French and English.
In the spring of 2000, the Enhancing Second Language Learning Project was initiated in response to the decreasing enrollments in second language classes and programs province-wide. An extensive review of the capacity of the Alberta's Learning system was conducted. The Enhancing Second Language Learning Final Report (1.7 MB) identified a number of recommendations to enhance language learning across the province.
These recommendations, in addition to a number of other considerations, have influenced the development of the current language-learning requirement.
