Professional development programmes for teachers moving from majority to minoritised language medium education: lessons from a comparative study

Joanna McPake, Wilson McLeod, Fiona O'Hanlon, Giovanna Fassetta, Mona Wilson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Education through the medium of a minoritised language is widely regarded as a critical component of language revitalisation initiatives. Given the demographic and social position of many minoritised languages, however, it may not be easy to find teachers who are fluent and literate in the language, confident about using and teaching it, and prepared for the demands of working in classrooms where the language is the medium of instruction. This article presents findings from a comparative study of teacher education programmes adopted in Catalonia, the Basque Autonomous Community, Wales and New Zealand, to prepare teachers to teach through the media of Catalan, Basque, Welsh and Māori respectively. The research was conducted to inform new professional development initiatives in Scotland, designed to enable qualified teachers to transfer from English-medium to Gaelic-medium education. The findings have wider relevance for other contexts in which the recruitment, professional development and retention of teachers to work in minoritised language medium education represent a challenge.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)79–105
Number of pages27
JournalLanguage Policy
Volume16
Early online date22 Feb 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2017

Keywords

  • Basque
  • Catalan
  • minoritised language medium education
  • Māori
  • Scottish Gaelic
  • teacher education and professional development
  • Welsh

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  • L'enseignement bilingue en langue minorisée: Comment penser la formation des enseignants?

    Translated title of the contribution: Bilingual education in a minority language: How to think about teacher education?McPake, J., 15 Oct 2016, L'éducation bilingue en France : Politiques linguistiques, modèles et pratiques. Hélot, C. & Erfurt, J. (eds.). Limoges, p. 627-644 18 p.

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