Page 305 - Karmen Pižorn, Alja Lipavic Oštir in Janja Žmavc, ur. • Obrazi več-/raznojezičnosti. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut, 2022. Digitalna knjižnica, Dissertationes 44
P. 305
rethinking language teaching: the theory and practice of plurilingual education
their primary curriculum. But these are matters of detail. Successful repli-
cation of Scoil Bhríde’s approach will depend not on the percentage of pu-
pils from immigrant families or the number of home languages present in
a given school, but on the school’s commitment to underlying principles:
learner-centredness, dialogic pedagogy, translanguaging, language learn-
ing as socialization, a “language experience” approach to the teaching of
reading and writing, pluriculturalism and interculturality.
Scoil Bhríde’s approach also has implications that reach far beyond the
primary sector. On the day that we wrote this conclusion, the Irish Times
published an interview with Andreas Schleicher, special adviser on edu-
cation policy to the secretary general of the OECD (Irish Times, 22 March
2021, p. 4). According to Schleicher, Irish education is “very much 20th-cen-
tury” in its infrastructure and architecture, “quite industrial in its outlook
and design”: “Students get taught one curriculum. It’s quite heavily focused
on the reproduction of subject matter, and not that much focused on get-
ting students to to think out of the box.” These thoughts are not new; for
many years they have figured prominently in the national debate about the
future of education. They are seriously limited, however, by the fact that
they say nothing about language. Without language there can be no educa-
tion, without languages there can be no plausible 21st-century curriculum,
and without multiple languages there can be no truly inclusive education.
The example of Scoil Bhríde (Cailíní) suggests that any attempt to rethink
the goals and modalities of education should begin with language; for when
the delivery and processing of curriculum content is inseparable from the
development of learners’ plurilingual and pluricultural repertoires, learner
empowerment is likely to stimulate thinking “out of the box”.
References
Alexander, R. (2020). A Dialogic Teaching Companion. Abingdon: Routledge.
Ashton-Warner, S. (1986).Teacher. New York: Simon & Schuster. (First pub-
lished 1963)
Barnes, D. (1976). From Communication to Curriculum. Harmondsworth: Pen-
guin.
Byram, M. (2009). Multilingual societies, pluricultural people and the project
of intercultural education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. https://rm.coe.
int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?docu-
mentId=09000016805a223c
305
their primary curriculum. But these are matters of detail. Successful repli-
cation of Scoil Bhríde’s approach will depend not on the percentage of pu-
pils from immigrant families or the number of home languages present in
a given school, but on the school’s commitment to underlying principles:
learner-centredness, dialogic pedagogy, translanguaging, language learn-
ing as socialization, a “language experience” approach to the teaching of
reading and writing, pluriculturalism and interculturality.
Scoil Bhríde’s approach also has implications that reach far beyond the
primary sector. On the day that we wrote this conclusion, the Irish Times
published an interview with Andreas Schleicher, special adviser on edu-
cation policy to the secretary general of the OECD (Irish Times, 22 March
2021, p. 4). According to Schleicher, Irish education is “very much 20th-cen-
tury” in its infrastructure and architecture, “quite industrial in its outlook
and design”: “Students get taught one curriculum. It’s quite heavily focused
on the reproduction of subject matter, and not that much focused on get-
ting students to to think out of the box.” These thoughts are not new; for
many years they have figured prominently in the national debate about the
future of education. They are seriously limited, however, by the fact that
they say nothing about language. Without language there can be no educa-
tion, without languages there can be no plausible 21st-century curriculum,
and without multiple languages there can be no truly inclusive education.
The example of Scoil Bhríde (Cailíní) suggests that any attempt to rethink
the goals and modalities of education should begin with language; for when
the delivery and processing of curriculum content is inseparable from the
development of learners’ plurilingual and pluricultural repertoires, learner
empowerment is likely to stimulate thinking “out of the box”.
References
Alexander, R. (2020). A Dialogic Teaching Companion. Abingdon: Routledge.
Ashton-Warner, S. (1986).Teacher. New York: Simon & Schuster. (First pub-
lished 1963)
Barnes, D. (1976). From Communication to Curriculum. Harmondsworth: Pen-
guin.
Byram, M. (2009). Multilingual societies, pluricultural people and the project
of intercultural education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. https://rm.coe.
int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?docu-
mentId=09000016805a223c
305
