Mehrsprachige und plurikulturelle Schulmodelle in der Schweiz oder: 'What's in a Name?' (Bilingual and Multicultural Education Models in Swiss Schools, or 'What's in a Name?').

N

17

Bilingual Education; Comparative Analysis; Comparative Education; Cultural Pluralism; Curriculum Development; Educational Policy; Educational Technology; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Language Role; Multicultural Education; Program Design; Public Policy; Second Language Programs; Teacher Education

In Switzerland, bilingual education models have existed for a long time. Some schools have a bilingual tradition that reaches back to the nineteenth century, as do informal models along the French-German language border. At the same time, exchanges between language communities led to bilingual learning, and the Raetoromania is a compulsory, though transitional, approach. Rapid development of bilingual models occurred in the 1990s, largely influenced by the Council of Europe and international research. Overall, language borders foster early bilingual models, while schools farther from these borders favor late models, at the secondary and higher education levels. Current political discourse addresses issues of territoriality and of the integration of English and migrant group languages into the curriculum. A small number of models attempt to break up the antinomy between the national/international languages and the often-excluded community languages. Progress can be expected most in the fields of teacher training, curriculum planning, and use of new technologies. (Contains 27 references.) (MSE)

1999

ED422731