Abstract

A tension between mobility and inclusion can be seen in public sector attempts to respond to the increasingly multilingual nature of the Scottish population. Increased mobility has contributed to greater linguistic diversity, which has led to growing demand for multilingual public services. Legal instruments and education policy in Scotland provide a promising framework in terms of promoting language learning and multilingualism, but implementation is not always successful and responding to linguistic diversity among pupils is beset with challenges. This article will consider some of these challenges, both practical and attitudinal, reflecting on language teaching in Scotland and on issues raised during interviews with officials from the English as an additional language (EAL) services in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Language teaching often does not take into account the linguistic diversity present—despite the opportunity for a more inclusive approach offered by Scottish Government strategy—and this risks reinforcing negative beliefs about significant allochthonous languages in Scotland. In these circumstances, meeting the linguistic needs of increasingly multilingual school populations in an inclusive way is a challenging task.

Highlights

  • The United Kingdom’s (UK) position as one of Europe’s “largest immigrant-receiving countries” (Baldi & Wallace Goodman, 2015, p. 1153) has led to greater cultural and linguistic diversity and a rise in demand for multilingual public services

  • Meeting these needs in an inclusive way that, ideally, fosters positive attitudes towards linguistic diversity and multilingualism, is one facet of this challenge. This is an example of the connection between mobility and inclusion; alongside the practical aspect of English as an additional language (EAL) services, they are significant in terms of socio-economic inclusion

  • Legal and policy frameworks will be considered, and issues raised during several interviews carried out with members of staff from the EAL services, which work with schools and professionals to support pupils who are learning English, in Edinburgh and Glasgow will be discussed, highlighting practical and attitudinal challenges faced in service delivery

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Summary

Introduction

The United Kingdom’s (UK) position as one of Europe’s “largest immigrant-receiving countries” (Baldi & Wallace Goodman, 2015, p. 1153) has led to greater cultural and linguistic diversity and a rise in demand for multilingual public services. Legal and policy frameworks will be considered, and issues raised during several interviews carried out with members of staff from the EAL services, which work with schools and professionals to support pupils who are learning English, in Edinburgh and Glasgow will be discussed, highlighting practical and attitudinal challenges faced in service delivery. Limited resources and increased service demand influence strategy choices, as services develop new ways of meeting the demand, such as a greater role for peripatetic teachers, and capacity building and training within schools Alongside such practical challenges and responses, two key issues raised during interviews were the continued importance of challenging attitudes that approach linguistic diversity among pupils as a problem and of working with families and professionals to counter misconceptions and negative beliefs about the use of languages other than English at home, to encourage intergenerational transmission. There are opportunities for greater inclusion in the Scottish education system in terms of legal and policy frameworks, both practical and attitudinal constraints remain and there is a lack of truly diverse provision

Legal Obligations and the Place of Language
The Linguistic Composition of Scotland and Language Choices in Education
Practical Challenges
Attitudinal Challenges
Findings
Conclusions
Full Text
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