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A.2 Coping with linguistic and social diversity Whole School Language Profiles and Policies ENSEMBLE 14-17 December 2005 European Centre for Modern Languages. Antoinette Camilleri Grima Andrea Young Elisabeth Fleischmann Madlena Norberg. Why “ensemble”?.
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A.2 Coping with linguistic and social diversity Whole School Language Profiles and Policies ENSEMBLE 14-17 December 2005 European Centre for Modern Languages
Antoinette Camilleri GrimaAndrea YoungElisabeth FleischmannMadlena Norberg
Why “ensemble”? A school is a community of students, teachers, parents, administrators … others
A community… requires the development of respect towards common values, conceptions, ideas…
Council of Europe language education policies aim to promote: Context
Plurilingualism All are entitled to develop a degree of communicative ability in a number of languages over their lifetime in accordance with their needs
Linguistic diversity Europe is multilingual and all its languages are equally valuable modes of communication and expressions of identity
Mutual understanding The opportunity to learn other languages is an essential condition for intercultural communication and acceptance of cultural differences
Democratic citizenship Participation in democratic and social processes in multilingual societies is facilitated by the plurilingual competence of individuals
Social cohesion Equality of opportunity for personal development, education, employment, mobility, access to information and cultural enrichment depends on access to language learning throughout life
The Guide • Looks at the larger context • Addresses States and national policy making level
Our Project Headteachers and language policy co-ordinators at school to establish goals and identify some technical means of implementing them
Plurilingualism • Is a democratic value to be promoted • Is a competence to be developed
Principle Native-like competence is NOT the only acceptable goal when learning a language
A repertoire of languages and language varieties Competences of different kinds and levels within the repertoire A plurilingual person has:
Plurilingual educationpromotes: • An awareness of why and how one learns languages • An ability to use transferable skills • A respect for the plurilingualism of others
Respect for all language varieties • A respect for all cultures • A global, integrated approach to language education in the curriculum
Project Aims • To understand existing school profiles fostering plurilingualism • To formulate and implement policies that support plurilingualism
Pre-Workshop • Identify a number of relevant issues to plurilingualism at school • Illustrate them via a small number of grounded case studies
Workshop • Raise awareness about language issues in education • Stimulate reflection about own attitudes and role • Provoke discussion about the decision-making processes
Initiate the development of tools • Focus on practical approaches • Aim for tangible results
Post-Workshop Case studies provided by participants – school profiles • Fine-tuning of tools intended for school development • Examples of ‘research and development’
Ascertaining continuity between home and school Valuing all languages Taking stock of all the assets Case Studies
Establishing a climate of collaboration • Implementing change in favour of linguistic diversity
Dissemination • School profiles – to encourage others • Tools – to support the implementation of policies favouring plurilingualism
To stimulate action by headteachers – sensitize headteachers toward their responsibility in this area
Quoting…Education Bradford There is a need for governors and senior managers in school to be committed to valuing the linguistic diversity of the school and its community
School leaders are in a strong position to take a lead on plurilingualism and linguistic diversity through relevant policies
They can also ensure that staff who wish to develop their skills in community languages, have access to appropriate professional development
Schools should ensure they give appropriate value to the languages of the community…and that these are celebrated within school
The most important single factor in the success of the school is the quality of leadership of the head(Harris, Day, Hadfield, 2003)