Education and bilingualism in Catalonia

Abstract

Abstract Catalonia is a region in the Spanish state with a language of its own, Catalan, that has had a notable cultural development. It is therefore a region in which the state language, Castilian or Spanish, and the native language coincide. With the recent change of political regime, Catalonia has recovered some autonomy. The new government of Catalonia proposes an educational policy that favours student identification with Catalan culture and that facilitates at the same time knowledge of the two languages to the same depth. The article describes in detail five types of school presently functioning in Catalonia. The typology is made according to the role of Castilian and Catalan in instruction and in student activities. The article also refers to the expected evolution of this situation in the near future, and points out the characteristics of the Catalan education project. These are service of the entire student population at all levels of instruction, an effort to facilitate a high degree of compete...