Page 304 - Karmen Pižorn, Alja Lipavic Oštir in Janja Žmavc, ur. • Obrazi več-/raznojezičnosti. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut, 2022. Digitalna knjižnica, Dissertationes 44
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inistration, government and law; architectural styles, modes of dress,
food and drink; and so on. This is what people usually have in mind when
they compare and contrast national cultures. But culture is also a process:
people who live together develop common attitudes, beliefs and patterns of
behaviour; and distinguishable cultures in this sense exist at all levels of so-
ciety – in professional associations, religious denominations, sports clubs,
and so on. Each family also has its own distinctive culture. Thus, we are
all pluricultural: from a relatively early age we belong to multiple cultures
and develop whatever competences are necessary for active participation in
them (Byram, 2009, p. 6). Some of the cultures to which we belong overlap
with others (we may be members of several sports clubs), while some have
nothing in common (the bird-watching group we belong to and the politi-
cal party we actively support).
When young children first start at Scoil Bhríde, their life has been
shaped largely by the culture of the home, though their experience of life
outside the home may already have brought them into contact with un-
familiar attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. Whatever their family situation,
school exposes them to the cultural practices that shape primary education
in Ireland. At the same time, the dialogic and exploratory talk that medi-
ates between school knowledge and their action knowledge allows pupils to
contribute fragments of their home cultures to the ever-expanding knowl-
edge of the class. Some of those fragments will be broadly familiar to many
pupils, while others are startlingly different; in many cases difference will
be linguistic as well as cultural. But Scoil Bhríde’s plurilingual and inter-
cultural approach helps pupils to accept novelty and difference with inter-
est and respect, welcoming all forms of diversity for the enrichment they
bring: pupils’ plurilingualism is matched by pluriculturalism, and both
contribute to the development of interculturality.
4. Conclusion
As we said in the introduction, to the best of our knowledge the version
of plurilingual and intercultural education implemented by Scoil Bhríde
(Cailíní) is sui generis. It has aroused a great deal of interest in Ireland and
further afield, but we are not aware of any attempts to replicate the ap-
proach. Clearly, it would be necessary to make adjustments in schools with
fewer EAL pupils or fewer home languages; while the essential role played
by Irish as a “hinge” between English and EAL pupils’ home languages
might be played by English in those countries that include the language in
304
food and drink; and so on. This is what people usually have in mind when
they compare and contrast national cultures. But culture is also a process:
people who live together develop common attitudes, beliefs and patterns of
behaviour; and distinguishable cultures in this sense exist at all levels of so-
ciety – in professional associations, religious denominations, sports clubs,
and so on. Each family also has its own distinctive culture. Thus, we are
all pluricultural: from a relatively early age we belong to multiple cultures
and develop whatever competences are necessary for active participation in
them (Byram, 2009, p. 6). Some of the cultures to which we belong overlap
with others (we may be members of several sports clubs), while some have
nothing in common (the bird-watching group we belong to and the politi-
cal party we actively support).
When young children first start at Scoil Bhríde, their life has been
shaped largely by the culture of the home, though their experience of life
outside the home may already have brought them into contact with un-
familiar attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. Whatever their family situation,
school exposes them to the cultural practices that shape primary education
in Ireland. At the same time, the dialogic and exploratory talk that medi-
ates between school knowledge and their action knowledge allows pupils to
contribute fragments of their home cultures to the ever-expanding knowl-
edge of the class. Some of those fragments will be broadly familiar to many
pupils, while others are startlingly different; in many cases difference will
be linguistic as well as cultural. But Scoil Bhríde’s plurilingual and inter-
cultural approach helps pupils to accept novelty and difference with inter-
est and respect, welcoming all forms of diversity for the enrichment they
bring: pupils’ plurilingualism is matched by pluriculturalism, and both
contribute to the development of interculturality.
4. Conclusion
As we said in the introduction, to the best of our knowledge the version
of plurilingual and intercultural education implemented by Scoil Bhríde
(Cailíní) is sui generis. It has aroused a great deal of interest in Ireland and
further afield, but we are not aware of any attempts to replicate the ap-
proach. Clearly, it would be necessary to make adjustments in schools with
fewer EAL pupils or fewer home languages; while the essential role played
by Irish as a “hinge” between English and EAL pupils’ home languages
might be played by English in those countries that include the language in
304
