Alternative Spaces of Learning in East London: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

This article emerges from an ongoing exploration into how British minority ethnic communities in the London area create spaces in community-based programs to maintain or develop their languages and literacies. In London, more than one-third of the 850,000 school children speak a language other than English at home (Baker & Eversley, 2000). This article compares a model of complementary schooling developed by the more recent Albanian refugee community in east London with provision within the long-established Bangladeshi community. Within the Bangladeshi community, it contrasts two examples that suggest that government policy and local political power can impact very differently on the same community in two different locations. The case studies illustrate the way in which communities with different immigration trajectories and geographical locations within east London maintain their identities, their languages, and their literacies in the face of changing government policies and a challenging economic climate.