Poem
TXORIA TXORI
Hegoak ebaki banizkion
nerea izango zen,
ez zuen aldegingo.
Baina honela ez zen gehiago txoria izango
eta nik...txoria nuen maite.
THE BIRD WHO WAS A BIRD
If I had cut his wings
He would have been mine
He would not have flown away
But then, he would have been a bird no longer
And it was the bird what I loved
Mikel Laboa
Immigrant families’ involvement
in their children education in
The Autonomous Community of
the Basque Country
Nahia Intxausti
Goldsmiths University of London 2009
1. First questions to be answered
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Where is the Basque Country?
What is the Basque Country?
What is the sociolinguistic context of the
Basque Country?
What is the Basque education system like?
Where is the Basque Country?
What is the Basque Country?
Autonomous
Community of the
Basque Country
Autonomous
Community of
Navarra
Northern Basque
Country
Sociolinguistic context of the Basque Country
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2.882.766 inhabitants
Spanish and Basque are the two official languages of the
Autonomous Community of the Basque Country
One area of the Autonomous Community of Navarra
Mayor legal restriction of the Basque language in
The Northern Basque Country (France)
Most part of Autonomous Community of Navarra
Bilingual speakers 24,7 %
Positive attitude towards Basque
Basque is important in social identity construction
Education System in the Autonomous
Community of the Basque Country
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Bilingual education: developed during the 60’s
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Basque: official language in education
- 1982. Basque normalization law
- 1983. Decree of bilingualism
A, B and D teaching models
Education System in the Autonomous
Community of the Basque Country
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Teaching models
Model A: In Spanish. Basque as a subject
Model B: Spanish and Basque
Model D: In Basque. Spanish as a subject
Not every model is offered in each school
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Bilingual models
increasing
2. Immigration
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Foreign immigration
5,4 % in Basque Country (2008)
11,3 % in Spain (2008)
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Nationalities (2008):
Half of them Latin American
Rumanian (10,9%), Colombian (10,4%), Bolivian
(10,1%), Moroccan (8,8%), Portuguese (7,5%),
Ecuadorian (6,4%).
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Educational context: 5,6 %
Teaching model choices (07-08)
Students
Immigrants families´ children
Model A: 20,24 %
Model B: 23,16 %
Model D: 55,98 %
Model A: 41,26 %
Model B: 29,14 %
Model D: 29,58 %
State schools: 53,38 %
74,36 %
Why choices are not going in the same direction?
Study
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Sample: 302 immigrant families
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Statistical criteria:
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Whose children have enrolled Primary Schools in the
Autonomous Community of the Basque Country
From different countries of origin
Type of school
Teaching model
Rural/ urban area
Cuestionaire based on:
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Cualitative research (22 interviews with families)
Some questions…
1. How do they make their educational
choices?
2. Do they keep their language of origin?
What strategies are mainly used by them?
3. What expectations do they have towards
child’s level of language of origin?
1. Educational choices
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Reasons for school choice within families
51 % Proximity
39,1 % Somebody’s advice
35,1 % Educational Government allocation
28,8 % Language of school
28,5 % Family or compatriots attendance
7,9 % Type of school (state/private)
3,6 % Religious identity of the school
1. Educational choices
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Reasons for school choice within families
“Practical” reasons are important: i.e.proximity,
advice
Importance of Schooling Committee
Language of the school is important (for families
enrolled in model A/B)
The Social network influence
1. Educational choices
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Reasons for teaching model choice within
families
63,2 % School offers only one model
35,8 % Learn Basque language
27,5 % Avoid problems with Basque language
19,5 % Attain Basque identity
14,9 % Have Schools chosen for them
11,3 % Advice
1. Educational choices
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Reasons for teaching model choice within
families
Many of the families did not make a choice
Learn Basque language
No relation with origin
Families from model A/B
Avoid problems with Basque language
63 % families of Model A
Families with Spanish as their mother tongue
Advices are less common
2. Language of origin
Its use
 94,4 % speak their language of origin at
home
 52,6 % speak their language of origin at
home and in the streets (%95,5 of them have
Spanish as their mother tongue)
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5,6 % stop using their language of origin
2. Language of origin
Its use
 Minority language as a mother tongue -C.O
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61,3% continue using it at home
38,7% stop using it
Majority language as a mother tongue -C.O
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98,15% continue using it at home
1,85% stop using it
2. Language of origin
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TV use
47 % continue watching chanels from their
original country (more common in families where
Spanish is not the mother tongue)
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Music listening
81,5 % continue to listen to music from their
original country
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Religious practices
58,3 % continue religious practices in their
mother tongue (arabian speakers, rumanian speakers,
spanish speakers..)
2. Language of origin
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Literacy practices in their language of
origin at home
Reading
34,8 % of families read with their children
9,6 % of families whose language is a minority
language in their original country
Writing
33,1 % do writing activities with their children
9,67 % of families whose language is a minority
language in their country
2. Language of origin
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Classes in their language of origin
Are offered only outside the school
7,65 % of children attend language classes
Only arabian classes are attended
3. Expectations
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Expectations for their children´s future
knowledge of language of origin
36,1 % very high level
33,4 % high level
17,5 % medium level
7,3 % low level
5,6 % very low level
Families whose mother tongue is Spanish are more positive
Families whose mother tongue is a minority language are less
positive
3. Some new questions...
In your opinion, could be any finding related
to “language and power”?
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Natives’ point of view
- If you were basque native, which model would
you recommend them? (model A, B, D)
- Would be easier for natives to advise
immigrants families if Basque language were
normalized in Basque Country?
3. Some new questions...
- Do sociolinguistic and educational problems in
the Basque Country come along with immigrants?
- Their arrival remind us how much is still to
be done regarding the Basque normalization and
pedagogical strategies
3. Some new questions...
In your opinion, could be any finding
related to “language and power”?
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Immigrants families’ point of view
- Why no-spanish families do not complain of
learning in basque?
3. Some new questions...
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Immigrants families’ point of view
- Why families from Latin American are more
afraid of learning in basque?
- Why families from minority languages do not
keep their original language as much as the
others?
Thank you!
Nahia Intxausti
University of the Basque Country - www.ehu.es
Email: nahia.intxausti@ehu.es
4. Programmes and resources
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Department of Education
- Student programme: Basque immigration plan
- Multilingual guide: Basque Education System
- Schooling Commitees: avoid guetization
- Translation service
- An standarised form to register newcomer
- Training programmes
4. Programmes and resources
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Department of Education
- Advice on incorporation, treatment and
monitoring
- Funding: language support classes in Spanish
and Basque.
- Teachers claim more resources.
- Newcomers’ mother language: Portuguese
programme
4. Programmes and resources
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Other associations
- Meetings among different language
communities: information exchange
- Meetings to exchange activities to teach
newcomers Basque
- Informative leaflet published in some villages
5. New challenges?
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Are challenges new?
- Tendency of cultural homogeneization
- Sociolinguistic problems of the Basque Country
5. New challenges?
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Tendency of cultural homogeneization
Were our classrooms culturally diverse before?
Did not we have gypsies, catalans, galicians...
in our classrooms?
Did we take into account this cultural diversity?
5. New challenges?
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Sociolinguistic situation
Which advise will be the best one?
Will be easier for us to advise if our language
were normalized in Basque Country?
Their arrival remind us how much is still to
be done regarding the Basque normalization
Conclusion
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We should not demand from them Basque skills
as we do not demand it from ourselves or in our
closest social context.
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We should offer them what society at large has
on offer to anyone of us in order for them to
stop feeling like immigrants.
Basque schools are willing to DEMAND from
newcomers
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Respect for the process of normalisation: we
should keep them informed
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Positive attitude towards Basque: we should be
friendly with them
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Willingness to learn Basque
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Referring to jobs?