irish language preschools: training policies and practice
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Irish language preschools: training policies and practice. Máire Mhic Mhathúna, Ph.D. Dublin Institute of Technology. Overview of paper. Ecological theories of language Relate aspects of theory to Irish language preschools or naíonraí in the linguistic and educational spheres - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Irish language preschools: training policies and practice
Máire Mhic Mhathúna, Ph.D.
Dublin Institute of Technology
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Overview of paper
Ecological theories of language Relate aspects of theory to Irish language
preschools or naíonraí in the linguistic and educational spheres
Analyse training policies and practices in two naíonra agencies, Comhar Naíonaí na Gaeltachta (CNNG) and Forbairt Naíonraí Teo (FNT)
Discussion and conclusions
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Language ecology
Van Lier (2000:246): language learning being more than processing input
Van Lier (2002:141): importance of contextulaity of language
Kramsch (2002:3): dynamic interaction between language users and linguistic environment or context
Socialisation into a community of practice(Lave and Wenger 1991, Kramsch 2002: xii)
Affordances: property of environment that is perceived as being useful.
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Kramsch
Kramsch (2002:16) stresses the relationality of hierarchically organisational levels from the emotional and motivational make-up of the individual learner to the social/professional community of professional users to the larger institutional framework endowed with institutional memory, power and authority.
Includes language planning and language education policy (Candlin and Sarangi (2002:xiii)
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Cummins and CALP
Cummins (1986): BICS and CALP Basic interpersonal communicative skills CALP: decontextualised and cognitively
demanding in regard to learning a second language and to learning through a second language
Takes a long time to develop BICS necessary to talk to young children
in appropriate ways in Irish and CALP necessary to study naíonra childcare through Irish
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Current study
Aim: to investigate training policies and practices in naíonraí from an ecological perspective
Ethical issues Interviewed two people who were familiar with
naíonra training policies and practices, from Comhar Naíonraí na Gaeltachta (CNNG) and Forbairt Naíonraí Teo (FNT)
Semi-structured interview: topics sent in advance Transcripts given to participants for verification of
their views Triangulation: FNT 2006-7 Annual report,
publications and websites (Codó 2008:163)
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Gaeltacht Linguistic Environment
82 naíonra sessions in Gaeltacht areas, mainly in the West of Ireland
Comhar employs 130 practitioners, 95% are native speakers of Irish.
Very high standard of Irish and basic training is a condition of employment
1,000 children 70% of Gaeltacht people speak Irish on a daily basis
(CSO 2006) Family use of Irish declining (Ó Giollagáin and Mac
Donnacha 2007) 25% of naíonra children with very good – native
speaker competencies in Irish 75% with beginner to basic understanding of Irish Dealing with variety of language backgrounds
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Country-wide Linguistic Environment
218 naíonra sessions (2006) 340 practitioners who work on
private/independent basis 3,500 children 2% of children with very good Irish 98% of children are beginners FNT’s practitioners' level of Irish mirrors
that of general population and varies from native speaker to learners at various levels of competency
10% of population speak Irish daily.
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Education Environment
Preschool education voluntary, 1 year, 2.5 hours a day
State pays salaries of Gaeltacht practitioners through Comhar Naíonraí agency
FNT practitioners in private sector Training in early childhood education
sector: National certificate at Level 5: one year post
school at further education level Level 6: 2 year programme at FE level Degree level in 7 Institutes of Technology and in
one university
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Early Childhood Education Sector
Sector under-regulated but recent developments re quality standards, curriculum and revised regulations
April 2009 Budget announcement: One year’s free pre-schooling on
universal basis from 2010, subject to certain conditions
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Naíonra Training
Level 5: both agencies built on existing national certificate programme by translating 6 early education modules and by adding language specific modules: Using Irish with young children Sociolinguistics and young children Gaeltacht: Enriching Children’s Irish
Level 6: existing modules plus additional module on Language Planning
Little demand for Level 6 courses in Gaeltacht areas, some in other areas
Training on part-time basis, 2-4 modules per year in evenings
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Policy
Policy in both agencies: all practitioners should have Level 5 training, including 2 language modules
Possible to specify this as condition of employment in Gaeltacht naíonraí because staff are employed by agency
Lack of other early education courses in many Gaeltacht areas: lack of affordance
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Language Issues
FNT: offer support and encouragement for training through Irish in rest of country
Additional factor of ability to learn through Irish, Cummins CALP
Led to development of language course for practitioners, Céimeanna Beaga.
Option of doing some modules through English elsewhere but must do 2 Irish language modules
Respect, acknowledgement of positive attitude, interest, motivation but recognition of gap in language skills in some cases
Attitude, interest and experience also important in Gaeltacht situation, e.g. bringing up family through Irish.
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Short Courses
Both agencies offer short courses in First Aid, Child Protection, working with children with additional needs
Both agencies have staff who have undertaken training in child protection and can offer courses in own agencies and to other groups
Both experienced difficulty in finding suitably qualified people to deliver First Aid.
Both offer one-week introductory course in several locations around country.
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Development Officers
CNNG has 4 development officers who provide a range of short in-service courses on topics requested by Gaeltacht practitioners
Practitioners are required to attend. Development officers trained in quality standards
and will offer courses to practitioners Also attend other management and early
childhood education courses FNT had 8 regional advisors and an education
officer Agency currently being restructured, but have
advertised a post for an education officer.
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Training Resources
Both agencies developed Irish language resources for training and as classroom resources
FNT: 2 Handbooks, quality handbook, 4 CDs for use with children (new and traditional songs and rhymes), 2 sets of posters
Also use relevant English language books Research studies by Tina Hickey Website: www.naiona.ie
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Gaeltacht Resources
Curriculum handbook, tape of traditional children’s songs, use FNT publications and use Irish version of quality handbook, Síolta.
Also use relevant English language books Future plans: continue to provide training,
to include upcoming developments and to support practitioners
Currently evaluating Borradh language planning programme
Website: http://comharnaionrai.com
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Discussion: Context
State support for Gaeltacht naíonraí Affordance of long tradition of State support for
Irish language in Gaeltacht regions National and regional language Societal and institutional memory Layers of state support filter down to Gaeltacht
naíonraí State support for FNT organisation, but not for
practitioners Implication: CNNG can set down conditions of
employment while FNT can only offer support
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Practitioners’ Level of Irish
Both contexts mirror the state of Irish in their respective regions
Gaeltacht: strong community language, community of practice, everyday communicative language
Country-wide: networks of practice, range of levels of competency
Implications for learning through Irish and for providing early years education through Irish.
Need for both academic Irish and for communicative competence with young children.
Gaeltacht practitioners can manage both domains Some practitioners country-wide can do so
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Professionalisation
Stark differences between practitioners’ pay and conditions in both linguistic contexts
Gaeltacht: professional context: specified levels of Irish language competency, pre-service and in-service training, in return for pay and conditions of employment
Country-wide: dependent on good will, private enterprise and market rate for pre-schooling, variable levels of competency in Irish language and in training
Both contexts exhibit high levels of social capital: Very positive attitude toward Irish language Strong spirit of volunteerism Interest in promoting Irish as community language
Part-time nature of training and time needed to completeprogrammes mitigate against further training, significantaspect of professional development.
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Future
Trend of professionalisation likely to continue Implications of universal childcare for one year
and attached conditions for quality and curriculum
Lack of interest in further training worrying in this context
Training for other early childhood practitioners is moving to degree level and will eventually lead to degree-led profession
Creative means for encouraging and providing higher levels of training in both linguistic contexts re language and early childhood education.
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References
Codó, E. (2008). Interviews and Questionnaires. In Li Wei and Moyer, M. The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 158-1176.
Kramsch, C. (2002). Introduction, “How can we tell the dancer from the dance?” In C. Kramsch, Language Acquisition and Language Socialisation: ecological perspectives. London: Continuum.pp.1-30.
Ó Giollagáin, C. agus Mac Donnacha, S. (2007). Staidéar Cuimsitheach Teangeolaíoch ar Úsáid na Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht. Baile Átha Cliath: Oifig an tSoláthair.
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References
Van Lier, L. (2000). From input to affordance: social interactive learning from an ecological perspective. In J. Lantoff, Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning. Oxford: OUP.pp.245-259.
Van Lier, L. (2002). An ecologcial-semiotic perspective on language and linguistics. In C. Kramsch, Language Acquisition and Language Socialisation: ecological perspectives. London: Continuum. pp. 140-164.