Building Bilingual Education Systems
Forces, Mechanisms and Counterweights

A collaborative series with the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education highlighting leading-edge research across Teacher Education, International Education Reform and Language Education.

Peeter Mehisto (Author), Fred Genesee (Author)

9781107450486, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 March 2015

330 pages
24.5 x 16.9 x 1.7 cm, 0.56 kg

This book details investments required for establishing successful bi-/trilingual education programmes and discusses administrative, community legislative, political, societal and institutional complexities that shape bi-/trilingual education. It will help readers anticipate potential consequences of various programme development decisions and prepare them for both expected and unexpected outcomes. The complexities of bi-/trilingual education are organised using an innovative conceptual framework of forces, mechanisms and counterweights. This conceptual framework is used to analyse 13 case studies from five continents. In addition, six 'voices-from-the-field' provide the first-hand accounts of educational professionals working in bilingual programmes.

Part 1. Looking at the big picture: 1. United States of America - the paradoxes and possibilities of bilingual education
2. Europe - supra-national interventions promoting bilingual education
3. Canada - factors that shaped the creation and development of immersion education
4. Estonia - laying the groundwork for bilingual education
5. Utah - making immersion mainstream
6. Basque Country - plurilingual education
7. Kazakhstan - from twenty trilingual schools to thousands?
Voices from the field - England
Voices from the field - Canada
Voices from the field - Spain
Part 2. Looking at the long-term
8. Cymru/Wales - towards a national strategy
9. The Netherlands - quality control as a driving force in bilingual education
Voices from the field - Aotearoa/New Zealand
Voices from the field - Cymru/Wales
Part 3. Understanding the Role of Context
10. United Arab Emirates - searching for an elusive balance in bilingual education
11 Malta - bilingual education for self-preservation and global fitness
12. Colombia - challenges and constraints
13. South Africa - three periods of bilingual or multilingual education
Voices from the field - Brunei
Conclusion Forces, Mechanisms and Counterweights
Appendix: tools introduction
Tool 1. National or regional-level planning considerations for bi-/trilingual education
Tool 2. A bilingual education continuum.

Subject Areas: Educational material [YQ]