Bilingual Education - a new frontier in learning? (Amber Johnson)

An article published by the Sydney Morning Herald demonstrated a new tactic within the Australian eduction system. 'Classrooms blazing the trail in NSW for bilingual education' written by Amy McNeilage published September 9th this year, demonstrates a part of a government-bilingual program, piloted at Campsie Public School in 2010. It was one of four schools to implement this pilot study in "an attempt to boost the study of Asian languages" claims the article.

Apple (1996:7) claims that perhaps schools may limit the students ability to discover their own identities, both personal and cultural. This is rebutted however by Qvarsall and Wulf's (2003:1) assertion that educational insitutions actually cultivate and strengthen the popularity of culture: "Cultures are sustained and transformed through the manner in which they communicate with the younger generation; it is at this level that they constitute their particular power and dynamic."

For students, particularly primary school students, this idea of enforcing a bilingual approach to education may have both positive and negative affects on their outlook towards education, identity and association within their own culture. However, in this case of the Campsie Public School implementation of the program the research outlined in the article demonstrated that almost 75% of parents whose children attend Campsie Public School, agree the programs had been a success. However, it must be noted that Campsie Public School boasts diversity and linguistic capability: "Not a single child speaks only English" claims McNeilage (2013). The school's principle, Phil Irvine, claims that to be well educated means that exposure to language is a necessity (McNeilage 2013).

Cultural workers (Dumas 2009:405) are "social actors who participate in the production and dissemination of ideas, discourse and/or artisitc products indended to inform or influence how we make sense of the human condition and our actions within relations to power." Teachers, particularly those who share the view of the principle of Campsie Public School, who are placed in the role of a cultural worker, can cultivate the students' ability to formulate and constuct meanings and ideas within education that can either attribute or diminish their chances at connecting with their culture through education.

An issue that may arise from this bilingual approach to education, would be when children become confused at which culture they inherently associate themselves with. However, despite this social and personal complication, educational data from Campsie Public School shows the students involved in the language program have improved in other areas of the curriculum. 

Overall the study was so successful, that it "could be a strong model for language learning in other schools" (McNeilage 2013). 



References:

Apple, M. (1996). Cultural Politics in Education. New York, America. Teachers College Press. Print.

Dumas, M.J. (2009). 'What is this 'Black' in Black education? Imagining a cultural politics without guarrantees.' In Z. Leonardo (Ed.), Handbook of Cultural Politics and Education (pp.403-22), Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. 
 
McNeilage, A. 2013. 'Classrooms blazing the trail in NSW for bilingual education.' Accessed online http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/classrooms-blazing-the-trail-in-nsw-for-bilingual-education-20130908-2te22.html 



Qvarsall, B. & Wulf, C. Eds. (2003) European Studies in Education: Culture and Education. Germany: Waxmann. Print. Accessed online at http://books.google.com.au/books?id=qZgNdP4LEewC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false