Integrating Immigrant Children into Schools in Europe

CHAPTER 5SCHOOL-BASED RECOGNITION OF IMMIGRANT CULTURESupport measures for immigrant pupils have been put in place in almost all European countries, generallyon the basis of a twin strategy. First, the education systems of those countries support acquisition by thepupils concerned of at least one official host country language so that they can integrate more effectivelyinto the host society and be educated more easily (see Chapter 4). Secondly, support may also beconcerned with ensuring that the same pupils remain proficient in their mother tongue and responsive totheir own cultural heritage so as to maintain firm contact with their culture of origin. Provision for thislatter type of support will be dealt with in the present chapter, which will also consider how schools mayadapt their daily activities in response to the cultural or religious practices of immigrant pupils.5.1. Measures to Support the Language and Culture of OriginMother tongue support is often introduced on the grounds that this will improve the development andlearning ability of children with a mother tongue different from the language of instruction, and alsocement their sense of identity. Support measures enabling immigrant schoolchildren to be taught theirmother tongue are in some cases developed as part of minority language programmes, put in place insome countries for specific minority language groups. The countries have adopted varying approachesfor the provision and organisation of these measures. The precise implications of different approaches tomother tongue support have been the subject of much ongoing research ( 1 ). The same issue has alsobeen the focus of recent political debate in several European countries that have decided to earmarksignificantly more resources for immigrant pupils to become fully proficient in the language ofinstruction, and less for teaching them their mother tongue. This applies to Denmark, the Netherlandsand Norway.However, as regards measures for teaching immigrant pupils their language of origin, many Europeancountries do indeed offer many immigrants such provision. The nature of these measures varies widelyfrom one country to the next. Often support of this kind is available to pupils in compulsory educationirrespective of their precise immigrant status, but depending on which language is their mother tongue.Only in Lithuania is there a special arrangement of this kind for immigrants with refugee status, for whomlocally provided teaching of the mother tongue may be funded at central level to promote their socialintegration. Sweden is the sole country in which all immigrant pupils undergoing compulsory educationare formally entitled to mother tongue tuition if they wish. In other countries, its provision may be linkedto practical considerations such as the presence in school of a minimum number of pupils set to benefitor the availability of qualified teachers. Furthermore the existence of a bilateral agreement between thehost country and country of origin may be the basis on which some mother tongue tuition is provided.In many cases, therefore, the provision of support depends on which country pupils or their familiesoriginally come from. This is so, for example, when support is available in accordance with CouncilDirective 77/486/EEC, which lays down that appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that( 1 ) See for example: Thomas, W.; Collier, P; Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence. A National Study ofSchool Effectiveness for Language Minority Students’ Long-Term Academic Achievementhttp://www.crede.ucsc.edu/research/llaa/1.1_final.html 2002 and Cummins, J. Language, Power, and Pedagogy.Bilingual children in the cross-fire. England: Multilingual Matters51