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| Mercator Education: call for minimum standards for education in regional or minority languages |
The European rules on the teaching of minority languages need to become much clearer according to the findings of a conference held in Ljouwert, Friesland, on Multilingualism and Language Learning, and organised by Mercator Education. The Frisian minister for education, Bertus Mulder, pleaded for clear European standards for education in minority languages as an addition to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
“Good education in minority languages means that the teachers have to be well trained and that the inspectorate for education also pays attention to the teaching of minority languages'', Mulder explains. “Clear standards and guidelines might help us to move forward.''
At the end of this month Mulder will present the report 'Development of Minimum Standards for Education in Regional or Minority Languages' at the plenary meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CLRAE) of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. After this meeting the report will be forwarded to the Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe. If the report is accepted it will help to clarify what it takes to offer 'a substantial part' of the education in a minority language and what a state should do to meet the requirements after ratifying the charter.
At the conference in Ljouwert civil servants, scientists, politicians and language activists from 22 linguistic communities from across Europe discussed the findings in the report.
“We have been working with the Charter for ten years, and it is about time to make the articles on education more specific'', says Mulder. “Many states have ratified the article that 'a substantial part' of primary education should be given in the minority language. But what does that mean - a substantial part? And which are the problems we have to face in order to have a substantial part of our education in the minority language? When the Netherlands ratified the minister believed that the Netherlands fulfilled this demand, while many schools in Friesland only taught Frisian for one hour a week!'' One hour weekly is far from 'a substantial part' in the view of Mulder, one day a week would be better as a minimum standard. “There should be continuity in the teaching of minority languages and the language should also be used in the teaching of other subjects.''
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| Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council |
INTRODUCTION
1 Multilingualism in European society
The European Union, built around the free movement of its citizens, capital, goods and
services, is now home to 450 million people from diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic
backgrounds.
The importance of encouraging societal and individual multilingualism in the European Union
was rehearsed in the Commission Communication 'Promoting Language Learning and
Linguistic Diversity: an Action Plan 2004 - 2006’. The ability to understand and
communicate in languages other than their mother tongue is a basic skill that all European
citizens require. The further development of foreign language skills is important to encourage
mobility within the Union2; it will contribute to the creation of a truly European labour market
by allowing citizens to take full advantage of the freedom to work or study in another
Member State. Furthermore, a labour force with practical language and intercultural skills
enables European enterprise to compete effectively in the global market-place.
Learning and speaking other languages encourages a more open approach to others, their
cultures and outlooks. In addition, learning other languages improves cognitive skills and
strengthens mother tongue skills, including reading and writing. Learning one lingua franca
alone is not enough. The Commission’s objective is a truly multilingual European society: a
society in which the rate of individual multilingualism steadily increases until every citizen
has practical skills in at least two languages in addition to his or her mother tongue.
Heads of State and Government in Barcelona in March 2002, having set the objective of
making European Union education and training systems a world quality reference by 2010,
called “for further action … to improve the mastery of basic skills, in particular by teaching at
least two foreign languages from a very early age…”. At the same time, they called for the
“establishment of a linguistic competence indicator in 2003.” This decision arose from the
current lack of data on the actual language skills of people in the European Union and the
need for reliable systems to measure progress towards this new objective.
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