Abstract
ABSTRACT This article explores policy and practice in relation to support for speakers of community languages in Northern Ireland primary schools against the backdrop of the broader UK context, with reference also to the Republic of Ireland and wider European and international experiences. After an initial discussion of the educational, social and political context pertaining to Northern Ireland, we examine language and education policy as they relate to community languages, drawing out the issues that are common across the UK and pointing up those that are specific to or have particular resonances in Northern Ireland. The discussion is informed by ethnographic fieldwork in Belfast primary schools with contrasting socio-economic profiles. Our findings show that in addition to familiar challenges, a number of key factors are critical in Northern Ireland, including the recent surge in numbers of newcomer pupils, the lack of a statutory language component in primary schools, the economic dynamic in the education system, the divided nature of Northern Ireland society and its education system, the legacy of the conflict and socio-economic factors. We end by making suggestions for a way forward in policy terms.
Highlights
Community languages1 are a vibrant component of everyday life in the UK and are supported by a network of supplementary schools, a proactive National Resource Centre for Supplementary Education, as well as a plethora of grassroots initiatives and a number of legal protections in terms of access to services
This article explores policy and practice in relation to support for speakers of community languages in Northern Ireland primary schools against the backdrop of the broader UK context, with reference to the Republic of Ireland and wider European and international experiences
After an initial discussion of the educational, social and political context pertaining to Northern Ireland, we examine language and education policy as they relate to community languages, drawing out the issues that are common across the UK and pointing up those that are specific to or have particular resonances in Northern Ireland
Summary
Community languages are a vibrant component of everyday life in the UK and are supported by a network of supplementary schools, a proactive National Resource Centre for Supplementary Education, as well as a plethora of grassroots initiatives and a number of legal protections in terms of access to services (e.g. medical or legal). Newcomers’ multilingual practices may cause instances of negotiation and/or conflict among peers because they represent skills that their monolingual peers would not possess (Evans & Liu, 2018) If such scenarios are not managed wisely by educators, it may lead to alienation or exclusion of immigrant children in the school settings (Manzoni & Rolfe, 2019). Overall, training, resources and implementation of good practice in the multilingual classroom are highly variable
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