The Catalan Educational System

Subdirecció General de Llengua i PlurilingüismeMinistry of Education of Catalonia

2

Common challenges

GlobalisationConnectivity

Sustainability Population Evolution

Competitiveness Cohesion

Economy Citizenship Transformation

Identity Inclusion Development Equity Adaptation

The area of Catalonia: 32.000 km²

DENMARK43.000 km2

CATALONIA32.000 km2

BELGIUM31.000 km2

ESTONIA45.000 km2

ROGALAND9.147 km2

THE NETHERLANDS41.000 km2

Administrative Framework

• Population:7.134.206 inhabitants

• 15.96% of the Spanish population• 946 municipalities• 41 comarques or regions• 4 provinces: Girona, Lleida, Tarragona and

Barcelona

Catalan language

Catalan language in Europe

Use of language in family relationships and in the community

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Family0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Friends

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Neighbours

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Work mates

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

School mates

Only Catalan

More Catalan than Spanish

Both

More Spanishthan Catalan

Only Spanish

Other

Nursery0-3 years old

Educational Levels

Pre-school3-6 years old

Primary6-12 years old

Secondary12-16 years old

Lifelong Learning+18…. years old

Post Secondary16-18 years old

UniversityProfessional training

+18... years oldUniversity

IES

CEIP

Llar

Types of schools

• State schools (Public)

• Grant-aided private schools (Subvention)

• Independent private schools (Private)

School system

050000

100000150000200000250000300000350000400000

EIN

F

EPR

I

ESO

BA

TX

ILL

ER

AT

GFG

M

GFG

S

PublicPrivateTotal

Number of pupils: 1.076.576

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

50000

EINF-EPRI ESO-BAT SP. NEEDS

PublicPrivateTotal

Number of Teachers: 90.373

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Background: Political and social context

Democracy and Autonomy: 1975 & 1979 • Political action: Linguistic Normalisation Law (1983); Language Policy Law (1998)

• School language policies with Catalan Immersion at school.

• Huge teacher training and modernisation

Post-war social conflict (1939-1975):

• Internal Spanish immigration

• Monolingual school: Spanish

• Foreign languages at school: Latin, •Greek, French

http://goo.gl/yu9qQ

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First step: Catalan, language of schooling

Fully endorsed implementation of second language education methodologies

In Catalonia, since 1983, an action plan for bilingual education has been implemented to increase learning achievement of both official languages, Catalan and Spanish, as well as, at least, the learning of one foreign language.

Applied elsewhere

Quebec(Canadà)

In some areas of the UnitedStates

Finland

Wales

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2002: New Immigrant wave in Catalonia

Only 20 years later

Data of students newly arriving in Catalonia (origin country)

931

981

1.102

1.216

1.377

1.519

1.847

1.931

1.933

2.491

2.502

2.720

3.371

3.788

5.159

5.806

5.962

6.329

14.073

29.561

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000

Bulgària

Veneçuela

Regne Unit

Itàlia

Ucraïna

Rússia

Brasil

Xile

Pakistan

Uruguai

Rep. Dominicana

Gàmbia

Perú

Xina

Argentina

Colòmbia

Bolívia

Romania

Equador

Marroc

From: Servei d’Immersoó i Ús de la llengua, 2008

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Present situation: plurilingualism

• Political action 2011-2016: Main target: Plurilingualism

• Catalan, Spanish, English +… ) Plurilingual school language policies

• Compulsory third language:English or French in Primary & Optional German/Italian in Secondary)

• Family languages taught in the school, after hours (optional)

• Teacher training plans, focussed on Reading, CLIL, ePortfolio...

• International immigration: Multilingual society, Plurilingual kids

• Plurilingual school: curricular languages at school (Catalan, Spanish, English, French, German, Italian) + languages new citizens

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Several monolingual societies? One plurilingual society?

Looking for an educational system

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Catalan educational policies focus on…

Inclusion:Consolidating social cohesionwith inclusive education, and enriching citizenship in diversity.

ESPRONCEDA School

Competencies:Providing citizens in new generations with the necessary competencies for employability, sustainability and flexibility to face future unexpected challenges.

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Plurilingualism Framework

Linguistic Project

Learn and understandLanguages of instruction or curricular foreign languages

Spanish, English, French, German, Italian

Language of schoolingCatalan / Occitan

Chinese, Arabic, Urdu, Romanian, Tamazight, Ukrainian, Dutch ...

Personal itinerary languages

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Català Castellà Foreign language Foreign

language

• Schools with highly linguistic diversity

• Schools with most Catalan speaking students but with increasing presence of other languages

Fit the linguistic project to each particular situation:

Other family languages

Aranès

• Schools with predominance of Spanish speakers

Challenges

Speak Catalan

Speak Catalan andSpanish

Speak Spanish

Speak neither Catalan nor Spanish, But speak other languages

Know both official

languages (Catalan &

Spanish) and communicate, at least, in one

foreign language

Starting school:

On finishing compulsory schooling:

The School provides every student

the linguistic skills needed to become

competent and engaged citizens

applying second

language methodologies

Language and Plurilingualism

reading, speaking, writing, listening, inter-acting

in several languages

Dealing with diversity for empowering rights and duties

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Learning several languages develops morecompetent citizens

PlurilingualKnowledge

Communicationskills

InterculturalDialogue

Competencies for a shared future- team working- networking- bridging cultural gaps- flexibility, plural criteria - critical thinking- innovation and entrepreneurship - personal learning autonomy- language learning ability, - mass media competences - creativity, artistic sensitivity- ... … …

Knowledge

Attitudes

Procedures

The Plurilingual Project: common aims and shared challenges in Europe

• Identity buildingAccepting diversity and cultural difference as collective richnessand shared opportunity

• Community buildingFacing immigration and growth with social cohesionand active citizenship

• Knowledge buildingDeveloping skills for lifelong learning in a global context,and acquiring key competencies relevant to the labour market. Adapted from: Leonard Orban, Commissionate for Multilingual Portfolio, EU

To help them change the world