Minority Languages and Education in the European Union

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Minority Languages and Education in the European
Union
Durk Gorter ACLC - Universiteit van
Amsterdam Mercator-Education-Fryske Akademy
Behatokia nov 2004
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Overview

• Europe and Minority Languages
• - Typology, demography, policy
• Mercator-Education project
• Structure, goals, activities
• Regional Dossiers
• Comparative study

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Europe
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Languages in Europe
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European languages

• State languages English, Spanish, French, Dutch
• Immigrant minority languages Turkish, Arabic
• Sign languages
• Regional or minority languages

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Minority languages
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Differences in size
200 2.000 20.000 280.000 2
M 7 M
Catalan (E)
Cornish
Galician
Catalan (I)
Saterfrisian
Luxembourgish
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Council of Europe
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Council of Europe
European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages
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Status as of 1 Nov 2004   Total number of
ratifications/accessions
17 Total number of signatures not followed by
ratifications 13 Total number not signed

16 Source Treaty Office on http//conventions.c
oe.int (ets 148)
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European Union
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European Union
Regional or minority languages
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European Union Regional or minority
languages

• Language policy
• Typology
• Educational provisions

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European Union Regional or minority
languages
Language policy
The European Commission's Action Plan for
Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity
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EU-based typology

• Unique minority language communities
• a) Welsh, Frisian, Galician
• b) Catalan (E, I, F), Basque (E, F)
• Minority language communities with a kin-state
• a) German (B, Dk, F, I), French (I), Slovene (Au,
  I)
• b) Ukranian (Sl, Pol), Russian (Est, Lit, Lat)
• Special cases
• a) Irish, Luxembourgish, (Maltese)
• b) Romani, Yiddish

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Mercator Education
25-27 nov 2004
Q A service
11 communities 31 schools
Network of schools
Digital library
Databases
Regional dossiers
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Regional dossiers
28 downloadable 30 cases
www.mercator-education.org
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Structured contents

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Pre-school education
• 3 Primary education
• 4 Secondary education
• 5 Vocational education
• 6 Higher education
• 7 Adult education
• 8 Educational research
• 9 Prospects
• 10 Summary of statistics
• Education System in .
• References and further reading
• Useful addresses

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Decision making level
8
4
7
11
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Language as a subject
9
6
13
2
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Medium of instruction
16
7
5
2
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Educational provisions
14
9
7
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Trilingual Education

• n59 language groups
• 15 full provisions
• At least another 13 as a subject
• About half no provisions
• Starting age 3-9 years, most at 6
• Objectives basic skills, not all same level

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Problems conclusions

• Quality availability of learning material
• Teacher training initial in-service
• Contribution of education

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Eskerrik asko www.mercator-education.orgdgorter
_at_fa.knaw.nl