Minority Languages and Curriculum: The Case of Spain

Abstract

From a legal and institutional point of view, the current situation of the different languages in Spain has a double basis: the fact that the Spanish Constitution acknowledges the country's multilingual and multicultural character, and the country's organisation into Autonomous Communities. Such a constitutional framework has made it possible for bilingual education to develop remarkably during the last 20 years in Spain. The fact that Autonomous Communities have a language of their own with full educational rights has generated an important number of bilingual educational programmes. Apart from the experiences of partial bilingual programmes in other territories, both Catalonia and the Basque Country now organise their education on the basis of fully bilingual criteria. Based on current statistics, the legal basis and social context in which minority languages are taught in schools is examined, the actions undertaken are assessed and some challenges for the future are put forward.