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Bilingualism and Pre-School Provision: Gaelic-medium Playrooms
Joanna McPakeUniversity of Strathclyde, Scotland
Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh, Alba
Key Questions
• What are the linguistic advantages and disadvantages of early years language immersion programmes?
• What are the educational advantages and disadvantages?
• What approaches maximise linguistic and educational benefits?
• How can early years practitioners best be supported to achieve the challenging goals they have been set?
Two Studies
Glasgow Gaelic SchoolSgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu
• 2008-9: Review of Gaelic Medium Early Education and Childcare (Scottish Government and Bòrd na Gàidhlig)
• 2010-11: Young Children Learning in Gaelic (British Academy)
Research Team:University of Stirling: Christine Stephen, Irene Pollock, Tessa Carroll University of Edinburgh: Wilson McLeodUniversity of Strathclyde: Joanna McPake
Aims
Review• To map the current extent
of GM provision for early years education and childcare
Young Children• To investigate the everyday
experiences of children attending GM pre-school settings
Methods
Review• Mapping provision from existing
statistics• A survey of identified providers • Interviews with key informantsYoung children• Three case study settings, six
visits across the school year• Systematic observations• Structured conversations • Access to child profile records• Profile of language learning
environment in each setting
Gaelic Medium Education (GME)
• Gaelic speakers in Scotland:59,000 people = 1.2% of population
• Fewer than 1% of families with young children use Gaelic at home
• Just over 700 children enrolled in GM pre-school in 2008-9
• National Plan for Gaelic: aims for 4000 children starting GME by 2021
Gaelic Medium Pre-School Provision
• Scottish children entitled to two years of state-funded pre-school education, from age 3-5: 475 hours per year
• From the Review, we found 127 providers of GM early years education and care in 2008-9: state and private nurseries, playgroups and child-minders
Iochdar Nursery, South UistCroileagan An Iochdair
• The Review found GM pre-school provision in 14 of the 32 local authorities in Scotland, not only in the Gàidhealtachd
Gaelic Medium Pre-School Practitioners
• Nursery staff may be ‘fluent speakers’ or ‘learners’ of Gaelic
• Educational qualifications range from basic vocational qualification (SVQ2) to B.Ed.
• No pre-school or early years initial training is available in Gaelic.
• None includes a focus on bilingualism, language learning and teaching or principles and practice of immersion education.
• CPD for Gaelic medium pre-school and school practitioners is with English-medium colleagues, and in English. GM practitioners are expected to ‘translate’ this into GM practice.
A Language Immersion Model• c. 80% of children do not
come from Gaelic speaking homes
• Providers outside the Gàidhealtachd have very few Gaelic speaking children
• Non-Gaelic speaking parents choose GM provision for:- historical reasons- benefits of bilingualism- social reasons- small classes
• Gaelic-speaking parents often choose English medium education
Curriculum for Excellence: Early Years
• Active, experiential learning • Follows children’s interests and
motivations• ‘Play’ an important medium for learning• Holistic perspective on development –
cognitive, emotional, social, expressive and aesthetic and physical
• Learning is process of construction not transmission
• Process valued as well as product
Challenges
• To provide children with a positive start to their educational careers, meeting all the demands of Curriculum for Excellence
• To do this using a language unfamiliar to most of the children• To ensure that children develop competence in Gaelic, enabling
them to progress to GM primary education
An Cumachd
Ms Robertson: James, dè tha ann an cumachd? James: Rocket. Ms Robertson: Chan e. (Asks others.) Ms Robertson: Eil sibh ag èisteachd le na cluasan? Cumachd. ’S
e shape a th’ ann.
An Doctair
Two girls lie down and role play going to sleepMairi: I’m pretending in
the game that I’m ill.
Ms MacNeill: Dè tha ceàrr ort? Laura: They don’t know.Ms MacNeill: Dè tha an dotair
ag ràdh? Mairi: I don’t know.
Isaac Newton
Ms Blair: Cò bha Isaac Newton?
Shona: An apple fell on his head.
Ms Blair: Carson a thuit an ubhal?
Shona: Because there was gravity.
Gaelic Exposure and Use• In just over half the observation episodes for
target children across all settings the language they heard was Gaelic
• Children spoke English almost all the time• Overwhelming majority of instances of
Gaelic use were when singing or at story time (adult-led activities)
• Children clearly understood commands and polite phrases and sometimes embedded these in English (e.g. ‘tidy up’, ‘thank you’)
• They very occasionally embedded other single words in responses to practitioners
• Limited evidence that they were aware of emergent bilingualism or its purpose
Theoretical Perspectives• Sociology of childhood:
being and becoming- the being child: a social
actor in his or her own right, actively constructing his or her own childhood (present orientation)
- the becoming child: an adult in the making (future orientation)
Uprichard, E. (2007): Children as ‘Being and Becomings’: Children, Childhood and TemporalityChildren and Society, 22: 303-313
Conflicting Goals?
Being Becoming
Curriculum for ExcellenceEarly Level
Process-orientation:• Child-centred• Active• Play-based• Holistic
GM Pre-school and Primary Education
Goal-orientation:• Language
revitalisation-centred• Rapid, substantive
growth in numbers of Gaelic speakers
• Fluency