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

McPake, J., McLeod, W., O'Hanlon, F., Fassetta, G. and Wilson, M. (2017) Professional development programmes for teachers moving from majority to minoritised language medium education: lessons from a comparative study. Language Policy, 16(1), pp. 79-105. (doi: 10.1007/s10993-015-9395-6)

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.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fassetta, Dr Giovanna
• Authors: McPake, J., McLeod, W., O'Hanlon, F., Fassetta, G., and Wilson, M.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Creativity Culture and Faith; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Culture, Literacies, Inclusion & Pedagogy
• Journal Name: Language Policy
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 1568-4555
• ISSN (Online): 1573-1863
• Published Online: 22 February 2016
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Language Policy 16(1):79-105
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License