The debate surrounding language policy in the education. system of Catalonia

Transcription

1 The debate surrounding language policy in the education system of Catalonia Abstract Language policy in the education system of Catalonia is an ever-changing process which increasingly faces challenges, both politically and socially. Since the death of Franco in 1979 and the increased freedom and autonomy it brought about within the regions of Spain, immersive Catalan education has rapidly gained popularity, but has recently been called into question both within Catalonia and Spain as a whole. As such, it is a topic which engenders much debate, and will continue to do so. What is examined here is how the policy came about, the main debate which surrounds it, and what may be expected of it or recommended for it in the future. First considered is why the policy of educating students at all levels through Catalan was created, and how it has evolved since its inception in 1983 a process which involved the Catalan Statute of Autonomy of 1979, the 1983 Law of Linguistic Normalisation, the 1998 Law of Linguistic Normalisation, and the 2006 Catalan Statute of Autonomy. The political context is then discussed. Those who support it include the Catalan nationalist party Convergència i Unió, on the basis of regional autonomy and identity. Those opposed to the policy, such as the currently ruling Partido Popular, do so out of a concern that Catalan will become the dominant language, thereby endangering the Spanish language in the region and threatening the linguistic rights of those who wish to speak it. The political debate thus proves challenging to reconcile. Lastly, the effects which the linguistic policy has on society are explored, and what is primarily detailed here is how the populace interacts with this policy. What is salient is the level 1

2 of support for the policy among native speakers of Catalan within Catalonia, including parents and educators, and in terms of their personal, societal and political satisfaction with how the policy is functioning and progressing. The perspectives of immigrants from Spain, Europe and further afield are also taken into account. Given the high levels of immigration into Catalonia, as well as the popularity of the region among Erasmus students, along with the vastly differing levels of comprehension of the language among these groups, immersive Catalan education may prove difficult. A final point within society is whether or not linguistic policy in the education system of Catalonia is truly effective or not. Overall, the policy may be considered successful, because it serves the people as both a vector for the assertion of linguistic identity, as well as a well-functioning education system. However, the political environment in which it is situated may yet cloud its success, as while the policy enjoys support from a number of people, groups and political parties, it is also confronted by considerable opposition. Keywords Catalan; language; education; identity; policy. Introduction The status of the Catalan language within the Spanish state has always been a contentious topic, having experienced extremely fluctuating levels of freedom throughout history. The language continues to be important today, as Catalan enjoys a high degree of usage within the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, a region which has been afforded a sizable amount of political independence from Madrid. Part of this independence pertains to the way in which Catalans are educated. Catalan 2

3 language policy in education is a subject situated both within the broader political debate on the autonomy and identity of the Catalan region, as well as the necessity for a functional education system which provides for all strata of society while promoting the everyday use of Catalan. It is also a topic which has also inspired much debate over the most favourable ways of ensuring the continued common use of Catalan as the llengua pròpia of the region, thereby preserving the historic Catalan identity as well as extending it to the vast immigrant population resident there. Formulating a language policy in education which satisfies these myriad needs is evidently demanding, and these elements must be objectively assessed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy and indeed to postulate how it may develop in the future. Catalonia has historically been set apart from Spain apart from having a distinct heritage and culture, the region industrialised earlier and has generally enjoyed a more active economy than the rest of the country (Gore et al 2000: 98), thus it comes as no surprise that elements of the social system language and education, in this case also operate differently to the rest of Spain. The linguistic policy in the education system of Catalonia as it stands has created a system of linguistic immersion in which students are educated entirely through Catalan until the end of secondary school, and given three hours a week tuition in Castilian. University students have the choice to attend lectures in Catalan or Castilian. This may appear straightforward, but it is in fact a policy which has engendered much debate. The arguments in favour of an immersive Catalan education system are numerous. The Law of Linguistic Normalisation of 1983 stated that its purpose was for the recuperación of the Catalan language, in order to garantizar el uso normal y oficial 3

4 del catalán y el castellano. It also serves to perpetuate the historic memory of independence (Keating 2001: 143) which is so deeply-ingrained in Catalonia by asserting the region s linguistic autonomy. Thus it is designed to reinforce a sense of Catalan identity amongst native speakers of the language, but on another level it aims to help integrate the large immigrant population into Catalan society by encouraging the learning and speaking of Catalan (Henders 2010: 83), thereby both including the migrant community in the region and promoting the use of the language. Indeed, it has been observed even very early on in the process of linguistic normalisation that a significant proportion of migrants resident in Catalonia see no disadvantage in their children being taught in Catalan (Siguan 1991: 93). Overall, Catalan language policy in education is a part of the effort to strengthen the social construction (Keating 1998: 87) that is Catalan identity the projection of values, qualities and culture which make up the identity with which one wishes to be associated. In this sense the policy is frequently situated within broader debates concerning other regions striving for increased autonomy based on a sense of separate identity, particularly Scotland (Gore et al 2000; Grant et al 1992; Keating 2001). Moreover, it has been generally regarded as an encouraging example of how devolution allows the periphery to coexist with the centre (Grant et al 1992: 159) and an encouraging success story (Mar- Molinero 2000: 165). That said, there are certainly sectors of both Catalan and Spanish society which oppose this policy, mainly minority groups, the right-wing Spanish press (Hall 2001: 77) and the main conservative party. This policy is viewed by many Catalan intellectuals in the Foro Babel, a Barcelona-based pressure group, as being excessively demanding and a tool of overarching nationalist linguistic dogmas 4

5 (Calero Vaquera 2000). A further threat to immersive Catalan education manifests itself in the Partido Popular, the conservative party which won a decisive victory in the General Election of November 20th 2011, as the PP favours a more uniform education system across Spain (PP 2011). It is also criticised by some who say that Catalan actúa hoy en Cataluña como el español actuó durante la época franquista (Soler Costa 2009: 127), implying that a sort of linguistic fascism is at work. There is also the issue of forcing students to use a language regardless of the one they use at home, and given that as of 2008 only 35.6% of the overall population of Catalonia aged 15 and over use Catalan habitually, compared to the 45.9% who usually speak Castilian (Generalitat de Catalunya 2009), the policy may not truly be promoting the language as intended. Clearly, this policy is one which encompasses a great deal of complex issues, including but not limited to identity, autonomy, integration and nationalism. In order to examine it fully, what will be discussed below will comprise of the history of the policy, the political debate surrounding it, and the effects it has on society, in order to evaluate its value and functionality within both Catalonia and Spain as a whole. Evolution of the policy To critically evaluate the linguistic policy in education in Catalonia, it is first necessary to identify what exactly it entails. According to Chapter 3, Article 35 of the 2006 Catalan Statute of Autonomy, Catalan is the teaching and learning language for university and non-university education. The Statute places particular emphasis on enshrining the students right to learn through Catalan, but also notes the right and obligation to have a sufficient oral and written knowledge of Catalan and Castilian upon completing compulsory education, whatever their habitual language of use when 5

6 starting their education. Thus students in Catalonia, regardless of their maternal language, receive their compulsory education (from ages 6 to 16) through the medium of Catalan, but sufficient tuition in Castilian to render them functionally bilingual upon completion of this stage of education. The manner through which this policy has evolved is due to a number of factors historical, cultural and political. Under the rule of Francisco Franco, the promotion and public use of Catalan along with the other regional languages of Spain was banned. Thus the language was repressed until Franco s death in 1975 and the subsequent transition to democracy. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 under Section 2 recognises and guarantees the right to self-government of the nationalities and regions of which [Spain] is composed, and Section 3.2 states that the other Spanish languages shall also be official in the respective Self-governing Communities in accordance with their Statutes. This gave the region of Catalonia autonomous powers and the Catalan language equal status with Spanish within Catalonia, which was formalised in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy of Article 3 of this document states that the language of Catalonia is Catalan, and under Article 15 gives the government of Catalonia full powers to regulate and administer education throughout its territory. What followed in 1983 was the first Law of Linguistic Normalisation, Title 2 of which declared the right of the people of Catalonia to be educated through Catalan or Spanish at primary level, the necessity of mastering both Catalan and Castilian, and the assertion of the promotion of the language at all levels of education. The second Law of Linguistic Normalisation updated these policies in 1998, adding provisions for students who began education outside of Catalonia, increasing the scope of the language in university education and placing more 6

7 comprehensive demands on teachers to be fully fluent in Catalan. These policies culminated in the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which asserted Catalan as Catalonia s own language, and as such rendered it the language of normal use for teaching and learning in the education system. The Statute also underlined the importance of students rights to a high-quality education and not to be separated or discriminated against on the basis of language. This series of documents and laws shows a society in transition, from the 1970s emphasis on the right to self-government to the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, which served to formalise the practice of Catalan education. This document had to be ratified by the Spanish state, and in doing so opened the possibility for legal intervention and for public opposition to be voiced on the issue of individual linguistic rights. The above legal evolution of Catalan linguistic policy in education clearly shows how the language s dominance in the region escalated, but does not demonstrate why. The explanation for this is largely to do with identity. There is an irrefutable link between identity and language, and Catalan identity in particular is strongly related to language use (Keating 2001: 161). Catalan identity is to a certain extent historic, given its deep roots in the region, but it also something much more pliable. As Jordi Pujol, former leader of CDC and President of the Generalitat, highlighted, anyone who lives and works in Catalonia, and wants to be Catalan, is Catalan (Pujol 1980 in Buffery et al 2011: 101), linking the Catalan identity to active participation in Catalan society, which includes the use of the language. The impact of this bond is that even when Catalan was proscribed under the Franco regime, the language survived, because the people continued to speak and transmit their own language and furthermore had a desire to protect Catalan heritage. This in turn gave momentum to a 7

8 political movement to create laws to preserve the language (Keating 1998: 27). The education system currently in use in Catalonia immerses students in Catalan from a young age, with the hope of increasing fluency and promoting everyday use of the language outside the classroom, because using a language as an effective means of communication e.g. as the medium of teaching and learning rather than merely a subject is a key component of acquisition of that language (Siguan 1991: 92). By transmitting the language to students in a meaningful way, Catalan is more commonly used and in turn preserved. This serves a further purpose to protect Catalan identity and heritage a considerable coup for a language and an identity which until relatively recently was systematically suppressed under Franco. Political context The linguistic policy in the Catalan education system is one which occupies the complex political position of simultaneously enjoying high levels of political support as well as being threatened by forces both within Catalonia and without. Education policy in Catalonia is the responsibility of the Generalitat of Catalonia, a role which is approved by the Spanish government. This body has been under the control of either the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC), Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) or Convergència i Unió (CiU the party which combines CDC and the Unió Democràtica de Catalunya UDC) since its inception in 1977, and as such these two parties are responsible for the formulation and implementation of all the aforementioned policies concerning linguistic policy in Catalan education. The PSC and CiU, along with the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) are the main supporters of autonomous linguistic policies in education and of regional autonomy in a broader sense. This mostly stems 8

9 from the fact that two of the above parties are liberal, socialist parties which have historically supported the devolution of powers to the various communities of Spain, and that ERC and the parties which make up CiU are distinctly Catalan nationalist parties. Support also comes from Catalan intellectual groups such as L Associació per a les Noves Bases de Manresa, who advocate a shift away from bilingualism (Gore et al 2000: 109). The majority of the opposition to these policies emanates from the Spanish conservative party, the Partido Popular (PP), and from the Unión Progreso y Democracia (UPyD), a new party of the radical centre (The Economist 2008) which advocates social liberalism and opposes any form of nationalism. The views of these parties were clearly seen in their election manifestos from the recent Spanish general election, held in November The political positions regarding linguistic policy in education ranged from CiU s goal to protect and extend the status quo (CiU 2011), through the PSOE-PSC s affirmation of the value of regional languages while also emphasising the importance of students knowing perfectamenta tanto la lengua castellana como el resto de lenguas cooficiales, también españolas (PSOE 2011: 34-5), to the UPyD s belief in a legal right to choose education through Castilian or through a regional language, and the PP s garantía de la enseñanza en lengua castellana en todas las etapas educativas and aprendizaje en ambas lenguas in the Autonomous Communities which have a co-official language (PP 2011). The opposition to the immersive Catalan education is also not limited to the sphere of political parties; groups such as the Foro Babel and the Asociación por la Tolerancia, comprising intellectuals, academics and ciudadanos preocupados (Asociación por la Tolerancia 2009), are also concerned about the shift away from bilingualism towards 9

10 the supposed dominance of Catalan over Castilian. The Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña (TSJC) also voiced their opposition to education entirely through Catalan in September of 2011, when they issued an ultimatum of two months to the Generalitat to reintroduce education through Castilian (La Vanguardia 2011), which would have effectively overturned the progress made in Catalan language education since This ultimatum was later suspended, in part due to overwhelming public outcry, but the debate continues within Catalonia. It is clear that there are many perspectives on the topic of Catalan linguistic policy in education, but the political debate surrounding the issue is however not one which solely concerns the merits of immersive education rather, it is part of a broader discourse on autonomy and nationalism. As has been described above, Catalans feel a very strong connection between their language and their identity. This relationship between language and identity gives grounds for an immersive education policy to ensure the language s survival, because las lenguas sólo sobreviven si son habladas y transmitidas (Junyent 2004: 9). This policy may be justified on two main grounds. Firstly, they consider it a way to preserve their language, and thus all the concepts associated with it identity, heritage, history, culture, nationality, etc. Jordi Pujol insists on the language as the foundation of Catalan identity, and so do most observers (Castells 2009: 51) and in a 2008 article on Catalan autonomy in The Economist, Artur Mas, current leader of CDC and President of the Generalitat, is quoted as saying if we don t make a big effort to preserve our own language, it risks disappearing. This big effort may also be justified because, simply put, it is the Catalan government s legitimate right and responsibility. The Generalitat of Catalonia has established itself as a political point of reference for citizens, deriving 10

11 its legitimacy from the conception of Catalonia as a nation and its links with the distinct civil society (Keating 1998: 131), a legitimacy which is furthermore legally conferred upon it by the Spanish Constitution. Thus linguistic policy in education in Catalonia stems from a belief in kind of Catalan nationality which deserves preservation and has legitimate, autonomous responsibilities to its people. The opposition to this policy appears to not necessarily emanate from a negation of this nationalism, rather from a desire to moderate it. At the centre of the political spectrum, the UPyD and various interest groups such as the Foro Babel, the Asociación por la Tolerancia and the signatories of the manifiesto por una lengua común (El País 2008) favour a legal right to choose between education in Castilian or Catalan, based on the belief that Castilian is as much a language of Catalonia as Catalan itself and that it is not legitimate for the political authorities to impose a single cultural model on a multiple society which is a cross-breed in its cultural manifestations (Calero Vaquera 2000). They essentially argue against what they see as enforced monolingualism and stand in favour of the freedom to choose which is purportedly associated with bilingualism. Further right along the political spectrum, this legally-enforced right to choose is also part of the PP s manifesto, along with a dedication to the introduction of la misma educación independientemente de las Comunidades Autónomas in which they study (Partido Popular 2011). Therefore the positions against Catalan immersive education range from the protection of the right to choose between Catalan and Castilian education, to the effective negation of the Generalitat s right to self-determination in the sphere of education. However, it must be called into question how reasonable these claims truly are. Crameri (2000: ) highlights the fact that Spain s various icons of banal nationalism have an 11

12 immense impact on Catalonia, and furthermore that many ordinary citizens of Catalonia accept that their national identity is very much a hybrid of Spanish and Catalan forms. Thus how far can opposition groups legitimately claim that the Catalan language is too dominant in Catalonia to the extent of threatening one s right to speak Spanish, given that Spanish culture, language and nationality retain such a strong presence in the region? The problem remains of how to reconcile this plethora of political opinions surrounding the issue of Catalan linguistic policy in education. Considering the PP s landslide victory in the General Election of 2011, one would consider it possible that they may follow through with their intention of legally-enforced bilingualism and a homogeneous education system across an extremely heterogeneous state. This said, Catalonia is the only Autonomous Community which showed quite conclusively at the last elections that it does not support the PP, with CiU gaining the majority in the constituencies of Tarragona, Lleida and Girona, and the PSOE winning 27.78% of the vote in Barcelona only.63% more than CiU but a full 6.83% more than the PP. Furthermore, the PP has never won control of the Generalitat since its inception. Moreover, in September of 2011, Mas asserted that no habrá acuerdos con el PP si toca la política lingüística (El País 2011 (a)). The various sides of this debate thus reach stalemate. Political support for nationalist and socialist parties throughout all of Catalonia gives them a mandate in the Generalitat, and it would therefore be unwise of the PP to encroach on Catalan linguistic policy. Social impacts 12

13 The political debate in which the linguistic policy in education in Catalonia is situated is clearly a complex and pertinent one, but it is equally important to consider the human impacts it carries, as an education system needs to first serve the population, not the political aspirations of those who govern. This will be examined in terms of how the immersive education system serves the students of Catalonia and its effects on non-native Catalan students. According to the linguistic encyclopaedia Ethnologue, approximately 11,200,000 people speak Catalan and its variants from the Valencian region and the Balearic Islands (Lewis 2009), and the website of the Generalitat states that it is the 88th most spoken language in the world. Obviously it is a language which is not as widely spoken as its Castilian bedfellow, and the relatively small area in which it is commonly used is clearly delimited. That said, it is an important aspect of life for millions of people, with 2,196,600 people using it as their habitual means of communication and 2,295,300 people who regard it as their language of identification (Generalitat de Catalunya 2009: 15). It is associated with the very existence and identity of the Catalan people, is spoken by most of them, and is used by virtually all social classes over the entire range of registers (Grant et al 1992: 162). Overall, the ethnic Catalan population seem satisfied with the immersive education system currently in place, and demonstrates this in three main ways. Firstly, on a personal level, people appear to be happy with how Catalan children are being educated. In the wake of the aforementioned remarks of the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña in September 2011, El País carried out a study of schools in Catalonia para conocer la realidad del sistema educativo catalán. Within these 13

14 articles, parents asserted their happiness with how their children are taught, and the belief that they have no need of extra tuition in Castilian. Furthermore, many principals affirm that they have never been faced with complaints about the immersive language policy, nor have they ever been asked to teach through any other language (El País 2011, (b), (c), (d)). Indeed, the popularity of education through Catalan could be seen as early as 1990, when education through Castilian was still a choice, 58 per cent of school pupils were receiving education entirely or almost entirely in Catalan, and just 8 per cent entirely in Castilian (Arenas 1991, in Keating 2001: 169). By 1994, only 79 out of Catalonia s population of 248,000 children chose to be educated in Castilian (Rees 1996: 316). Popular support for this policy is also seen through people s willingness for mobilisation when the policy is threatened, in that thousands of people took to the streets across Catalonia on the 11th of September 2011 to protest against the TSJC s aforementioned comments on bilingual education, and again on the 12th of February and the 7th of March This shows that on a social level, there is a high level of support for the current policy within the Catalan population enough to organise large demonstrations in order to protect the status quo. Finally, political parties like the CDC and the UDC enjoy a consistent level of political support within Catalonia. The fact that parties such as these wish to maintain the current education system and also consistently receive a sizable proportion of the vote at every level proves the electorate s approval of the issue. Thus personally, socially, and politically, the Catalan population exhibits its satisfaction with its education system. Moreover, not only does it receive the consent of the people, but it 14

15 also serves the people comparatively better than the education system in place across Spain, with learning outcomes being slightly above both Spanish and OECD averages (OECD 2010: 18). However, in recent months there have been calls from parents for education through Castilian to be made available to their children, which have been upheld by the TSJC as legitimate requests. This may serve to open the floodgates to other complaints which had not previously been voiced. In considering non-ethnic residents of Catalonia, there is a concern that the dominance of Catalan within the education system would threaten the civil rights of those whose first language is not Catalan (Gore et al 2000: 108). The region is a popular destination for migrants 15.7% of the region s population is foreign, in comparison to 12.2% of that of Spain (Generalitat de Catalunya 2011), and the region also receives many immigrants from the rest of Spain. This large immigrant population raises important questions about how wise an entirely Catalan education system is. To begin, students born elsewhere in Spain are likely to have little or no knowledge of the region s language, and thus would experience difficulties of comprehension when faced with being educated wholly in Catalan. In this way, immersive Catalan education may hinder the movement of students between Catalonia and the rest of Spain (Keating 2001: 170). Looking to Europe, Spain receives the most Erasmus students in all of the European Union, with 35,386 students on exchange in the country in the academic year 2009/2010 (European Union 2011: 4). This renders Catalonia the most popular 15

16 Erasmus destination of all, as Hall (2001: 79) points out that Catalonia receives more Erasmus students than any other region. This again may be problematic, as many of these European students may not speak Catalan yet wish to study at Catalan universities. Wider still, the total foreign population of Catalonia came to 1,198,538 in 2010 (Generalitat de Catalunya 2011). This situation is different again from those above, in that some of these immigrants may have Catalan, many would speak Spanish (as 32.54% of the foreign population is composed of immigrants from Central and South America), but a great deal would have no knowledge of either official language of the region. The number of non-catalan Spanish nationals, Erasmus students and immigrants from the world over poses a salient problem how can an immersive Catalan education system serve the needs of a population which does not speak the language? The first Law of Linguistic Normalisation, from 1983, does not address this issue, except in regard to teaching in centros de enseñanza especializadas dependientes de la Generalitat (Artículo 17). In the updated 1998 Law of Linguistic Normalisation and the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, however, the Generalitat shows an increased awareness of the situation. Under Article 35.4, the Statute of Autonomy states those pupils who join the school system in Catalonia at a later age than normal school starting age have the right to receive special linguistic support if their lack of comprehension skills makes it difficult for them to pursue their education normally. The investigation into Catalan education conducted by El País displayed the satisfaction of immigrant parents with this arrangement, with one mother stating 16

17 estamos muy contentos de que hable catalán disfrutará de oportunidades que nosotros no hemos tenido por no hablar el idioma ahora aprendemos catalán hablando con él (El País 2001 (b)). Furthermore, university students are also provided for under Article 35.5, which affirms that the teaching staff and pupils of universities have the right to express themselves, orally and in writing, in the official language of their choice. The inclusion of such clauses in the official statute of the region expresses a desire for balance on behalf of the Generalitat and the people of Catalonia in relation to linguistic policy in education, striving for an equilibrium between the protection of independence, language and heritage one on side and the inclusion and integration of the region s sizable immigrant population on the other. Evidently, linguistic policy in education gives rise to many problems of differing natures, but overall it appears to provide for a broad and diverse spectrum of students quite well. The question remains as to whether or not it is truly effective in terms of promoting the language. Given that the aforementioned 2008 survey on language usage conducted by the Generalitat shows that Castilian is still more widely understood and spoken in the region, and that fewer people could understand, speak and read Catalan in 2008 than in 2003 (writing was the only category in which there was an improvement from 2003 to 2008), it may be assumed that the Catalan linguistic policy in education is not in fact working as it should. However, it must be borne in mind that these figures are all still exceptionally high: 94.6% of Catalonia s population understood the Catalan language in Furthermore, the number of people who spoke Catalan as their habitual language dropped from 46% in 2003 to 35.6% in 2008, but the amount of habitual bilingualism rose considerably from 4.7% to 12%. 17

18 Catalan has an undoubtedly strong presence within Catalonia. It is still threatened by the dominance of Spanish and the growing need for English in a globalised society, but in its own region, and as long as the linguistic policy in education maintains its drive to promote the Catalan language, Catalan can retain its high status. Conclusion Linguistic policy in education in Catalonia is evidently a topic which has incited much debate, especially in recent years. It is an important and complex topic as it inextricably combines the educational wellbeing of a populace, the promotion of a minority language, and the political aspirations of those who govern and those who wish to govern. Policy to do with the Catalan language in education has evolved slowly and carefully since the death of Franco, and results in the immersive system presently operating. It has garnered support from the people of Catalonia and their representatives in parties such as the PSOE and CiU, as well as various interest groups. However, it has also engendered much opposition, particularly from the PP outside of Catalonia and pressure groups. Language policy has proven largely popular amongst parents and educators, and is shown to cater to the broad spectrum of students in Catalonia. It has been observed that Catalan usage is not as common as in the recent past, but given the high levels of comprehension of the language and the concurrent rise in bilingualism (Generalitat de Catalunya 2009: 31), the language is certainly not in any real risk of dying out even when factors such as the dominance of Spanish and English are considered, Catalan has repeatedly proven a resilient linguistic force. The linguistic policy in education in Catalonia may be considered successful, because it serves the people, but the politics of the situation surrounding it may yet cloud its success. What some see as agresivo catalanismo (Soler Costa 18

19 2009: 126) may exclude the more moderate elements of society, and political debate may hinder the progress of linguistic policy in education towards its true goals promoting the Catalan language throughout all strata of society through a high-quality education system. With powerful institutions such as the TSJC and the majority PP Spanish government, as well as some calls for Castilian education to be provided, there are tangible threats to the future of Catalan linguistic policy in education. It is the responsibility of both the people of Catalonia and their political representatives, as well as those politicians operating in Madrid who have influence over Catalan linguistic policy in education, to maintain the delicate balance between political power and grassroots support (Mar-Molinero 2000: 165): to not place political aspirations above the needs of the people. 19

20 Bibliography Asociación por la Tolerancia, 2009, accessed 13th February Buffery, H., Marcer, E., 2011, Historical Dictionary of the Catalans, Scarecrow Press, Inc., Plymouth. Calero Vaquera, M.L., 2000, The Influence of the Foro Babel on Catalan Society, South Bank European Papers, Number 5/2000. Castells, M., 2009, The Rise of the Network Society, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester. Convergència i Unió, 2011, Programa Electoral, accessed 7th March Crameri, K, 2000, Banal Catalanism?, National Identities, Volume 2, Number 2, pp The Economist, 2008, How much is enough?, accessed 13th February

21 El País, 2008, Manifiesto por una lengua común, elpepunac_29/Tes, accessed 13th February El País, 2011 (a), Mas avisa a Rajoy que no habrá acuerdos con el PP si toca la política lingüística, 8.html, accessed 7th March El País, 2011 (b), Ninguna familia nos ha pedido nunca la escolarización en castellano, 1.html, accessed 7th March El País, 2011, (c), Segregar a los alumnos por su lengua es una aberración, 8.html, accessed 7th March El País, 2011, (d), El reto, los resultados, 9.html, accessed 7th March European Union, 2011, Erasmus Facts, Figures & Trends, ec.europa.eu/education/pub/pdf/higher/erasmus0910_en.pdf, accessed 23rd February

22 Ferrer, F., 2000, Languages, Minorities and Education in Spain: The Case of Catalonia, Comparative Education, Volume 36, Number 2, pp Gahng, T-J., Woolard, K.A., 1990, Changing Language Policies and Attitudes in Autonomous Catalonia, Language in Society, Volume 19, Number 3, pp Generalitat de Catalunya, 1983, Ley 7/1983, de 18 de abril, de normalización lingüística en Cataluña, accessed 7th March Generalitat de Catalunya, 2009, Enquesta d usos lingüístics de la població 2008 (EULP 2008), ltats.pdf, accessed 20th February Generalitat de Catalunya, 2011, Figures of Catalonia, s2011en.pdf? , accessed 23rd February Gore, S., MacInnes, J., 2000, The Politics of Language in Catalunya, Scottish Affairs, Number 30, pp

23 Catalan Comparisons, Comparative Education, Volume 28, Number 2, pp Hall, J., 2001, Convivència in Catalonia: Languages Living Together, Fundació Jaume Bofill, Barcelona. Henders, S.J., 2010, Territoriality, asymmetry, and autonomy: Catalonia, Corsica, Hong Kong, and Tibet, Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Junyent, M.C., 2004, El futuro del catalán: del pesimismo de la razón al optismo de la voluntad, Estudios Catalanes, Año 2, Número 2. Keating, M., 1998, The new regionalism in Western Europe: territorial restructuring and political change, E. Elgar, Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, Mass. Keating, M., 2001, Nations against the state: the new politics of nationalism in Quebec, Catalonia, and Scotland, Palgrave, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York. Grant, N., Docherty, F.J., 1992, Language Policy and Education: Some Scottish- La Vanguardia, 2011, Ultimátum del TSJC a la Generalitat para que el castellano sea lengua vehicular en la escuela, accessed 9th March

24 Lewis, M. P. (ed.), 2009, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, SIL International, Dallas. Mar-Molinero, C., 2000, The politics of language in the Spanish-speaking world: from colonisation to globalisation, Routledge, London. Miller, H., Miller, K., 1996, Language Policy and Identity: the case of Catalonia, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Volume 6, Number 1, pp OECD, 2010, Higher Education in Regional and City Development: Catalonia, Spain, OECD Publishing, accessed 20th February Parlament de Catalunya, 2006, Organic Law 6/2006 of the 19th July, on the Reform of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. Partido Popular, Lo que España necesita, accessed 17th November Partido Popular, 2011, Nuestras Ideas Educación y Cultura, accessed 17th November

25 Partido Socialista Obrero Español, 2011, Programa Electoral, accessed 14th November Rees, E.L., 1996, Spain s Linguistic Normalisation Laws: The Catalan Controversy, Hispania, Volume 79, Number 2, pp Siguan, M., The Catalan Language in the Educational System of Catalonia. International Review of Education, Volume 37, Number 1, pp Soler Costa, R., 2009, La lengua catalana en la construcción de la identidad social de Cataluña: análisis de este nacionalismo lingüístico, Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, Volume 12, Number 4, pp Unión Progreso y Democracia, 2011, Elecciones Generales 2011 Programa Electoral, Programa_Electoral_UPyD_Elecciones_Generales_2011, accessed 10th February Woolard, K.A., 1997, Between Friends: Gender, Peer Group Structure, and Bilingualism in Urban Catalonia, Language In Society, Volume 26, Number 4, pp