Explaining Swiss Language Education Policy
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Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2018 Explaining Swiss language education policy Giudici, Anja Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-166199 Dissertation Published Version Originally published at: Giudici, Anja. Explaining Swiss language education policy. 2018, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts. EXPLAINING SWISS LANGUAGE EDUCATION POLICY Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Zurich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by ANJA GIUDICI Accepted in the fall semester 2018 on the recommendation of the doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Lucien Criblez (main supervisor) Prof. Dr. Franc¸ois Grin Zurich, 2019 Contents Acknowledgements i 1 Introduction 1 2 Curriculum, language education policy, nationalism; an analytical framework 15 2.1 Curricula as language education policy . 17 2.2 Defining ‘nations’ and nationalism: norm, norms, and claims . 23 2.3 Putting actors and processes back in . 38 3 Methodological framework 40 3.1 Process tracing . 41 3.2 Case selection: Switzerland and Swiss sub-states . 50 3.3 Data . 58 4 Existing explanations for language education policy 63 4.1 Explaining language curricula through actors’ predetermined interests . 64 4.2 Explaining language curricula through material constraints . 73 4.3 Explaining language curricula through ideas . 78 4.4 Conclusion and the lack of institutional theories . 90 5 Building a multilingual state with monolingual citizens— the mid-nineteenth century 92 5.1 Building a multilingual state . 96 5.2 Teaching children their own language . 101 5.3 Do children need a foreign language? . 114 5.4 Conclusion: curricula for the state? . 138 6 Learning languages for several ‘nations’—the early twentieth century 142 6.1 The depoliticisation of curriculum-making . 144 6.2 The politicisation of language and language teaching . 147 6.3 Instilling identities through ‘mother tongues’ . 159 6.4 Protecting children from foreign languages . 173 6.5 Conclusion: language curricula for the ‘nation’? . 199 7 Learning languages to overcome regionalisms and nationalisms—the second half of the twentieth century 203 7.1 Languages connecting people internationally . 206 7.2 Languages connecting and equalising people: a Swiss perspective . 213 7.3 A political will for reform . 220 7.4 A lack of political will . 232 7.5 Conclusion: curricula for international understanding? . 247 8 Conclusion 251 8.1 An analytical framework for studying nationalism and language education policy . 251 8.2 Theories explaining language education policy . 257 8.3 Tentative hypotheses, limitations, and avenues for future research . 266 A Abbreviations 272 B Bibliography 274 Sources . 294 Regulations . 297 Literature . 322 List of Tables 3.1 Theories and theoretical frames . 45 3.2 Cantons included in data collection and in process analyses . 57 3.3 Reviewed periodicals . 62 4.1 Explanations based on actors’ interests . 72 4.2 Explanations based on material structure . 77 4.3 Explanations based on ideas . 89 5.1 Components of mid-nineteenth century primary school curricula . 102 5.2 Foreign languages (L2) in compulsory primary schooling 1830s–1870s . 117 6.1 Changes in foreign language teaching, first half of the twentieth century . 180 Acknowledgements During the elaboration of this thesis, its topic became politically controversial. In autumn 2013, just a couple of months after I had started working on my dissertation, a heated debate took off regarding the selection and number of languages to be taught in Swiss state-led primary schools. On the one hand, in several German-speaking cantons, initiatives and referenda jeopardised the language education policy compromise reached in 2004 (EDK, 2004), according to which all Swiss pupils start learning two foreign languages in primary school, with one of them being a national language, i.e. either French, German, Italian, or Romansh. Some German-speaking experts, par- ents, and teachers felt this programme to be too ambitious for primary school pupils. They reques- ted the elimination of one the two foreign languages from compulsory curricula, or postponing its start to secondary education. In these discussions, the languages of the official Swiss minorities— French, Italian, and Romansh—seemed to always come second to English, whose economic and political status as global lingua franca went unchallenged. For Swiss minorities, who did not ques- tion the status of German in their curricula, these discussions represented a breach of confidence, and testified to German-speakers’ chauvinism and lack of solidarity. “La guerre des langues est declar´ ee”,´ runs the headline of the French-speaking weekly magazine L’Hebdo in May 2014. On the other hand, at about the same time, some German-speaking Swiss voters were called upon to cast a ballot on issues regarding the teaching of first languages. In several cantons, initiatives requested that the kindergarten curriculum focus solely on Swiss-German dialects instead of lit- erary German. These initiatives’ success, again, surprised and worried the non-German-speaking parts of the country. Suddenly, virtually everyone in Switzerland was discussing language educa- tion policy. Even those who approached me from abroad were sometimes aware of these debates, or knew about parallel, more dramatic debates that had risen to prominence in this period, for instance in the U.S., Ukraine, or Catalonia. This unexpected turn of events meant that my work attracted attention from outside the narrow boundaries of academia. As someone who moves back and forth between different Swiss language communities and studies the topic, I have often been asked for my opinion. However, I believe I have mostly disappointed those who thought my background and studies meant I had clear-cut, informed answers on how to solve these issues, and a clear position which parties can be con- sidered ‘right’ in these debates. I still do not have answers to these questions. Instead, what I believe this thesis taught me and might teach others is precisely how intricate, multifaceted, and normatively challenging language education politics are. For sure, there exist better or worse lan- guage education policies in terms of their feasibility, or how effective they are in conveying skills in a particular language to pupils. However, who can actually judge their feasibility—politicians in charge of state budgets? Teachers in charge of teaching them? Or experts evaluating them sci- i Acknowledgements entifically? The evaluation as well as the relative weighting of these skills in relation to other tasks schools are expected to fulfil are profoundly political issues that, as many others in this field, can hardly find on objective answer. Language education politics always contrasts different perspect- ives and interests, and policies inevitably end up benefitting one group of teachers, pupils, speak- ers, or voters, while disappointing or disadvantaging others. I hope that the analytical insights this study provides as to the factors and mechanisms behind Swiss language education policy, as well as actors’ concerns when they have engaged with such decisions in the past, might be en- lightening, thus showing what is at stake for different people when language education policy is discussed more generally. I would not have been able to reach these insights and to complete this thesis without the invaluable help I received from many different people, in different roles and languages. Zuallererst mochte¨ ich mich bei meinem Doktorvater Lucien Criblez bedanken. Als Mitarbeiterin des von ihm geleiteten Sinergia-Projektes und als Doktorandin an seinem Lehrstuhl, gewahrte¨ er mir grosse Freiheiten und Gestaltungsspielraume.¨ Gleichzeitig stand er stets fur¨ Diskussionen und Ruckmeldungen¨ zur Verfugung.¨ Er hat mich bereits als Studentin fur¨ die politischen Aspekte von Bildungs- und Erziehungsfragen begeistern konnen.¨ Dieses Projekt, und vor allem ich selbst, durften seitdem unglaublich viel von seinem Wissen uber¨ das Zusammenspiel von Politik und Bildung, sowie uber¨ die Schweizer Bildungsgeschichte und die Bildungspolitik im Besonderen, profitieren. Je voudrais aussi exprimer ma gratitude a` Franc¸ois Grin, qui a fait de l’espace dans son agenda charge´ pour evaluer´ mon travail. Ses etudes´ sur la valeur normative, politique et economique´ des langues et ses importants travaux sur l’evolution´ et l’economie´ des langues en Suisse figurent parmi les inspirations principales de ce projet. Sa maniere` de rendre profitables ses etudes´ ri- goureusement scientifiques pour les questions contemporaines centrales et le debat´ public est un modele` pour moi. Nonostante, per questioni prettamente formalistiche, non sia nominato in copertina fra coloro che mi hanno ufficialmente accompagnato in questo progetto, il mio terzo ringraziamento ‘acca- demico’ va a Nenad Stojanovic.´ E` come sua collaboratrice al Centro per la Democrazia Aarau che ho fatto i primi passi nel mondo accademico, ed e` lui che per primo mi ha rivelato il fascino, e la complessita,` delle questioni legate alla gestione politica e istituzionale della diversita` cultura- le e linguistica nelle loro dimensioni analitiche e politiche. Il mio sguardo su queste tematiche, sia in questa tesi che altrove, deve molto ai suoi lavori, alla nostra collaborazione e alle nostre discussioni in ufficio e fuori. Ein herzliches Dankeschon¨ geht an meine Mitforschenden