Basque, Spanish and Immigrant Minority Languages in Basque Schools

Abstract

In the Basque Country there has been a very strong growth in the number of pupils of immigrant origin, the main groups being from Latin America, Europe, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. The schooling of these pupils does not follow the same pattern as that of autochthonous pupils, as the immigrants tend to concentrate in state sector schools or in private schools serving students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This negative selection is compounded by the tendency of these pupils to concentrate in schools following the Spanish language model; the process of ghettoisation of the community of immigrant pupils is a current and future risk. Further, the Spanish model does not enable the learning of Basque, and a lack of fluency in the latter can hinder the integration of young immigrants into the labour market and society generally. As regards mother tongues, despite the apparent chaos of languages and cultures in our classrooms, two languages stand out on account of the number of speakers involved, Portuguese and Moroccan, and call for specific programmes. While the type of programme required for Portuguese is reasonably clear, in the case of the Arabic language some basic issues about its future are still unresolved.