Excerpt of the research study: Language-in-education models comparative perspective
The NPLD awarded to the three researchers Mr. Vicent Ferrando, Ms. Montserrat Sendra and Mr. Avel·lí Flors a research study to compare the immersion education models in five multilingual territories across Europe: Catalonia and Basque Country (Spain), Wales (United Kingdom), Ireland, and Brittany (France). We show here an abstract of the study with the highlights of the comparative results which will be fully presented and uploaded to this section soon.
Catalonia
Language status and demography
-
- Catalan is an official language in the different Catalan-speaking territories in Spain (Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands), along with Spanish. Occitan is also an official language, spoken in the Aran Valley. Outside this territory, its effective official status is more limited. The Catalan Sign Language also has legal support in Catalonia.
- The 1978 Spanish Constitution establishes Spanish as the official Language of the State but allows the autonomous communities or regions of Spain to make other local languages also official.
- Autonomous Communities assumed legislative and executive powers in educational matters and take over all the powers that are not expressly attributed to the Spanish state by the Constitution.
- The autonomous communities are indeed responsible for regulating and administering all educational levels and grades, types and curricula in their respective territories. These educational administrations are, according to the Spanish Constitution, on equal footing with the Spanish Ministry of Education.
- The regulations in Catalonia state that Catalan must be the language commonly used as means of instruction and learning within the education system.
Demolinguistic data
-
- 81.5% of the population above 15 are able to speak Catalan in Catalonia, according to the Catalan Language Census in the Population (EULP 2018).
- 76.6% uses Catalan at some point during the day.
- Spanish is used by 93.2% of the adult population.
- 18.6% of the population use a language other than Catalan or Spanish on a daily basis
Language-in-education policy
The principles on which the Catalan model is based are the following:
- a) Students cannot be segregated in schools or class groups by virtue of their language.
- b) At the end of compulsory secondary education, the students will be proficient in both Catalan and Spanish. It is important to emphasise that the model must guarantee full functional bilingualism at the end of compulsory schooling
- c) Catalan is the main language of instruction in the education system.
- d) To assist the students who join the system without prior knowledge of one of the official languages (newcomers), the education system implements measures to ensure linguistic support to facilitate their integration
- e) Parents or guardians of the students whose family language is Spanish can choose to request a personalised language option for their children so that during the first year of their schooling they can get personalised attention in this language.
- f) A new Court ruling (2020) sets that 25% of subjects must use Spanish as the language of instruction.
Results
The goal of the system is to ensure that at the end of compulsory schooling, all students, regardless of origin or mother tongue, achieve similar results in both official Catalan and Spanish (and in Aranese, in the Aran Valley).
Primary education
The data below offer the average language score in four languages (Catalan, Spanish, English and French) over the period 2016-2018 in primary education. The data in the graph show very similar results for Catalan and Spanish (as well as English and French). There are no significant differences in terms of language achievements between the two official languages.
Source: Data: System of Education Indicators in Catalonia. Education System Assessment Council. Language Policy Report. Directorate-General for Language Policy
Language Policy Report 2019 (gencat.cat)
Secondary education
Similar results are achieved in secondary education, as shown in graph below: no significant differences between Catalan and Spanish. In some years, Spanish ranks slightly higher.
Source: Data: System of Education Indicators in Catalonia. Education System Assessment Council. Language Policy Report. Directorate-General for Language Policy
For more information on the Catalan language-in-education model see The language model of the Catalan education system Language learning and use in a multilingual and multicultural educational environment
Basque Autonomous Community
Language status and demography
- Euskara or Basque is a language isolate spoken in the seven provinces of Euskal Herria, across two states: Lapurdi, Nafarroa Beherea and Zuberoa in southern France, and Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Nafarroa in northern Spain. This report focuses on the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC), comprising the provinces of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa.
- According to the latest available demographic figures, in the BAC Basque has 631,000 speakers, representing 33.9 % of the total population, and 356,000 receptive bilinguals, representing 19.1 % of the total population (Eusko Jaurlaritza, Hizkuntza Politikarako Sailburuordetza; Nafarroako Gobernua, Euskarabidea; Euskararen erakunde publikoa, 2016). Thus, more than half of the BAC’s population claim to at least understand Basque. The number of Basque speakers in the BAC has increased by 212,000 since 1991.
- In 1979 Basque achieved the status of official language in the BAC alongside Castilian (Spanish). Castilian is the only official language of the Spanish State, and the Spanish Constitution mandates that every Spanish citizen has a right and a duty to know it.
Language-in-education policy
- Historically, teaching of/in Basque has not been supported by public bodies, and it has been explicitly repressed in several periods, including General Franco’s Dictatorship, when the first experiences of private, community-led schools in Basque (ikastolas) started.
- In 1982, the Law on the Normalization of the Use of Euskara recognised a right to be schooled in both Basque and Castilian and established the goal to provide a “sufficient practical knowledge of both official languages at the end of compulsory education”.
- To achieve that, a 1983 Decree implemented three linguistic models for compulsory schooling:
- A Model. Castilian is the medium of instruction of content subjects, and Basque language is taught as a compulsory subject.
- B Model. Both Basque and Castilian are used as medium of instruction of content subjects.
- D Model. Basque is the medium of instruction of content subjects, and Castilian language is taught as a compulsory subject.
- In 2021, nearly 75 % of pupils in the BAC are enrolled in the D Model (EUSTAT 2022a, 2022b). The dramatic increase in the enrolment rates in this model are paralleled by a rapid decline of the A Model (3.0 % in Nursery and Primary Schools, 6.4 % in Secondary Schools), and a slower decline of B Model (17.8 % in Nursery and Primary Schools, 22.2 % in Secondary Schools).
Results
- Based on the Diagnostic Evaluations published by the official body ISEI-IVEI (2021a, 2021b, 2021c) for pupils in the 2nd course of Secondary Compulsory Education (aged 13-14), pupils attending Basque-medium schools (D Model) obtain better results in “linguistic communication competence” in Basque than those attending bilingual schools (B Model) or Castilian-medium schools (A Model). Results for Castilian and English are more homogenous across models, and the main conditioning variable is not the linguistic model but the socioeconomic status of students, based on the type of school they attend (better results for pupils attending private schools than for pupils attending state schools).
- Combining results in both Basque and Castilian, ISEI-IVEI (ISEI-IVEI, Eusko Jaurlaritza, 2018) also evaluates to what extent pupils in the different linguistic models and types of school achieve “bilingualism”, meaning an Intermediate or Advanced level in both official languages, as mandated by the law. Results are shown in the table. Again, Basque-medium schools (D Model) concentrate the better results, with more than two thirds (in private schools) and more than half (in public schools) of the pupils achieving bilingualism. The A Model concentrates the worse results, particularly in public schools. It is worth noting the fact that a great majority of BAC’s pupils are enrolled in the models providing better results, as shown in the last column of the table.
| Model |
Pupils achieving “bilingualism” |
Pupils not achieving “bilingualism” |
% of pupils in the school system |
| A Public |
1,8 % |
98,2 % |
2,4 % |
| A Private |
22,4 % |
77,6 % |
5,7 % |
| B Public |
22,3 % |
77,7 % |
3,3 % |
| B Private |
42,2 % |
57,8 % |
22,1 % |
| D Public |
56,4 % |
43,6 % |
41,3 % |
| D Private |
67,5 % |
32,5 % |
25,2 % |
Brittany
Language status and demography
- Breton is a Celtic language, qualified by UNESCO as “severely endangered”. It is spoken in France: in the Brittany Region and in the Loire Atlantique Department.
- The language has experienced a great decline in the number of speakers during the last century: at the beginning of the 20th century, there were 1,100,000 speakers; at the end, 210,000, of which 80 % were over sixty years old (TMO-Région, 2018). In addition, intergenerational transmission is practically non-existent nowadays (Héran et al. 2002).
- French language is the only official language of the country. The French Constitution only refers to regional languages as “part of the heritage of France”.
Language-in-education policy
- After the approval of the Ferry Law, in 1882, which required the use of French as the school language, the process of introducing the teaching of regional languages into the French educational system has been slow and difficult.
- Currently, there are four types of language programmes in Brittany:
- Schools without the presence of the Breton language
- Schools with the presence of the Breton language:
- Associative schools (ruled by parents), called Diwan, with a language immersion programme.
- Public bilingual schools (ruled by the French State), with 50 % of the subjects taught in French and 50 % in Breton.
- Catholic bilingual schools (private schools), with 50 % of the subjects taught in French and 50 % in Breton.
- However, the percentage of students who attend schools with the presence of the Breton language remains very low (2 % in 2017, source: Mercator, 2019).
Results
- Language competence in Breton: students in the immersion programme achieve the best results in Breton (65.4 % achieve a B2 level in the 3rd course), compared with the other models.
| Model |
A2 |
B1 |
B2 |
| Associative schools |
2.5 % |
32.1 % |
65.4 % |
| Public bilingual schools |
29.9 % |
43.3 % |
26.8 % |
| Catholic bilingual schools |
33.9 % |
47.3 % |
18.8 % |
Source: Bernabé & Dubourg-Lavroff, 2019
- Language competence in French in the immersion program in Breton is not affected, with more than 80 % of the students of the 6th course within the “Good” or “Excellent” levels (Bernabé & Dubourg-Lavroff, 2019).
- The average mark in the Diplôme National du Brevet (the final exam of college, that tests the knowledge of French language, Mathematics, History/Geography and Science) of the centres that apply the immersion programme is higher than the overall French average.
| Model |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
| Associative schools (Diwan) |
98.6 % |
98.5 % |
99.0 % |
| National |
87.9 % |
89.0 % |
87.3 % |
Source: Bernabé & Dubourg-Lavroff, 2019
Republic of Ireland
Language status and demography
- Irish is a Celtic language, qualified by UNESCO as “definitely endangered”. It is spoken in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland.
- In 2016, 39.8 % of the Republic of Ireland population was able to speak Irish, but only 4.2 % spoke it daily. In the Gaeltacht area (96,090 inhabitants), the region with the largest concentration of Irish speakers, 66.3 % could speak it (CSO, 2017).
- Irish is recognized as national and first official language in Ireland’s Constitution, along with English, which is the second official language. Since 2022, it is also an official language of the European Union
Language-in-education policy
- Currently, there are two types of language programmes:
- English-medium schools, with English as the main medium of instruction and Irish taught as a second language in one subject, as part of the core curriculum during the years of compulsory schooling (6-15). Since 2019, Irish can be also used in other subjects (for instance, Physical Education) in order to increase exposure to the language. In these other subjects, it is taught with CLIL techniques.
- Irish-medium schools, with Irish as the primary medium of instruction and English as a subject, in the Gaeltacht and outside the Gaeltacht.
- However, the percentage of students who attend Irish-medium schools (both in primary and secondary) remains very low (less than 10 % in 2010, according to Mass-Mouri, 2015).
Results
- Irish-medium immersion students achieve much higher levels of L2 proficiency than do non-immersion students studying the L2 as a subject area in English-medium education. The English-medium education does not ensure a proficient level of Irish, with a notable minority of students failing to attain mastery in Irish listening, speaking and general comprehension skills (Harris, 1984, 1988, 1991; Harris et al., 2006; Harris and Murtagh, 1998, 1999; cited in Ó Ceallaigh and Dhonnabháin, 2015).
- The results of nationally-standardized tests of English reading and Mathematics of the immersion programme in areas of disadvantage compared to those of students attending schools in areas of disadvantage nationally are lower at grade 3, but achieve the same level in Mathematics and outperform in English reading at grade 6.
Wales
Language status and demography
- Welsh is a Celtic language. It is spoken in Wales, in the United Kingdom, although smaller Welsh-speaking populations may be found in other countries as a result of emigration.
- Despite being the only Celtic language not categorized as endangered by UNESCO, the number of Welsh speakers has suffered a steady decline in the last centuries, as reflected in Census data. In 1891, the first Census recorded 910,289 people able to speak Welsh, representing 51.2 % of Wales’s population. In 1911, despite a growth in the total number of speakers (977,366), Welsh speakers were already on the minority in Wales (43.5 %). The last available figures, corresponding to the 2011 Census, record 562,016 speakers, corresponding to 19.0 % of the total population (Stats Wales, 2012).
- The 1993 Welsh Language Act established that Welsh and English should be treated on a basis of equality in Wales, and that the knowledge and use of Welsh should be promoted and facilitated. However, it was not until the 2011 Welsh Language Measure that Welsh gained official status in Wales.
Language-in-education policy
- The school curriculum currently in force mandates the compulsory teaching of Welsh in all the stages of compulsory education, from year 1 (Foundation phase, age 5) to year 11 (Key stage 4, age 16). Two different subjects coexist, depending on the type of Welsh-medium provision offered by schools:
- Welsh (often referred to as “Welsh as a first language”) is a Core Subject in Welsh-medium schools.
- Welsh second language is a Foundation Subject in English-medium and bilingual schools.
- A considerable degree of variation exists regarding the forms of Welsh-medium provision offered by schools, both between and within local authorities. The document Defining schools according to Welsh medium provision, published by the Welsh Government, represents an attempt to clarify this variation by establishing different categories of schools. Schematically, three types of provision may be found in Welsh primary and secondary schools:
- Welsh-medium schools, where most of the curriculum is taught through the medium of Welsh.
- A range of different models of bilingual provision, in which both Welsh and English are used as a medium of instruction of content subjects.
- English-medium schools, where most of the curriculum is taught through the medium of English, and Welsh is taught as a second language.
- According to Stats Wales (2022), the number of pupils attending Welsh-medium schools has grown slightly from 73,812 in the 2016/2017 school year to 78,081 in 2020/2021. Nonetheless, percentages remain low (e.g., 16.4 % of the total in 2020/2021). The same year, a great majority of pupils (347,169, 73.1 %) attended English-medium schools, and 43,530 (9.2 %) received some form of bilingual schooling. Welsh-medium provision remains stronger in primary school (20.9 %) than in secondary school (9.1 %).
Results
- Different reports issued by official bodies have singled out that generally “pupils who have followed the Welsh second language curriculum are not able to use their language skills outside the classroom” (Department for Education and Skills, Welsh Government, 2013, p. 19). Only those taking the subject of Welsh as a first language in Welsh-medium schools are generally assumed to be fluent speakers of the language at the end of compulsory education (reaching a B1/B2 level of the CEFR). The figures of pupils taking this subject reflect a moderate increase in the last years, from 74,484 (16.2 %) in 2016/2017 to 79,304 (16.9 %) in 2020/2021.
- Further evidence comes from the results of the English language and the Welsh language tests in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), which pupils take at the end of compulsory education, presented according to broad medium of school (English medium and Welsh medium)1. As shown in the table, with data from the 2020/2021 school year:
- Results of the English language test, which is common for all students irrespective of the school medium, show that pupils in Welsh-medium schools reach even better results (54,3 % “strong pass” A*-B, 78 % “standard pass” A*-C) than pupils in English-medium ones (49,2 % “strong pass” A*-B, 72,7 % “standard pass” A*-C).
- Results for Welsh do not allow for a comparison between models, because only pupils in Welsh-medium schooling take the Welsh as a first language test, whereas pupils in English-medium schooling take the exam of Welsh as a second language. Only those studying Welsh first language and passing the test (A*-C) can be deemed speakers: figures show that most of the students in Welsh-medium education achieve this goal (80,2 %).
| Test |
School medium |
Result achieved |
| A*-A |
B |
C |
D-G+U |
| English |
English-medium |
24.1 % |
25.1 % |
23.5 % |
27.3 % |
| Welsh-medium |
26.1 % |
28.2 % |
23.7 % |
22.0 % |
| Welsh |
Welsh-medium |
26.9 % |
27.4 % |
26.0 % |
19.8 % |
| Welsh second language |
English-medium |
26.0 % |
22.1 % |
23.0 % |
28.9 % |
