DOCUMENT RESUME FL 026 687 ED 452 714 ar Mogn, Olier, Comp.; Stuijt, Mark, Comp. AUTHOR Breton: The Breton Language in Education in France. Regional TITLE Dossiers Series. Fryske Academy, Leeuwarden (Netherlands). INSTITUTION Mercator-Education. European-Commission, Brussels (Belgium). SPONS AGENCY PUB DATE 1998-00-00 40p.; For other documents in the series, see FL 026 686 and NOTE FL 026 688-94. Mercator-Education, P.O. Box 54, 8900 AB AVAILABLE FROM Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Tel: 31-58-2131414; Fax: 31-58-2131409; e-mail: mercator @fa.knaw.nl; Web site: http://www.fa.knaw.nl/uk/mercator/fa-merc.html. Descriptive Reports Serials (022) Collected Works PUB TYPE (141) MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Cultural Maintenance; Educational Policy; Ethnic Groups; DESCRIPTORS Foreign Countries; French; *Heritage Education; *Language Maintenance; Language Minorities; *Language Planning; National Programs; *Native Language Instruction; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Uncommonly Taught Languages *Breton; European Union; France; *France (Brittany) IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of the European Union--Brittany. Details are provided about the features of the educational system, recent educational policies, divisions of responsibilities, main actors, legal arrangements, support structures, and qualitative information on a number of schools, teachers, pupils, and financial investments. This information is designed to serve the needs of policy makers, researchers, teachers, students, and journalists as they assess the developments in European minority language schooling. This information may also serve as a first orientation towards further research (additional readings are suggested and contact information provided). Specifically, information is provided on preschool, primary, secondary, vocational, higher, and adult education, as well as a review of educational research, summary statistics, and overall prospects for the use of the language under study. The subject of this dossier is Breton. Breton, or Brezhoneg, is an indigenous Celtic language spoken mainly in the West of Brittany and the cities of upper Brittany. Traditionally, it had been the language of Brittany, but the linguistic border gradually moved West. It is most closely related to Welsh and Cornish and is made of up of four dialects. A modern unified form without a geographic basis has evolved in the past 50 years. (Contains 32 references.) (KFT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Breton MERCATOR-EDUCATION information documentation research/recherche 0 The Breton language in education in France U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 4 2 numerically email laniplege amaronaities BEST COPY AVAILABLE Irom the This document r 11;)1.;;.c.i by Mercator-Education with ; i; Fryske Akaticliy .,1;,:pean Commission. (DG XXII: Educat;on, Tianing and Youth) © Mercator-Education, 1998 Mercator-Education P.O. Box 54 8900 AB Ljouwert/Leeuwarden The Netherlands tel. +31-58-2131414 fax: +31-58-2131409 e-mail: [email protected] website: http: / /www.fa.knaw.nl /mercator The contents of this publication may be reproduced in print, except for commercial purposes, provided that the extract is proceeded by a complete reference to Mercator-Education: European network for regional or minority languages and education. This regional dossier was compiled by Olier ar Mogn (Service de la langue Bretonne, Institut Culturel de Bretagne) and Mark Stuijt (Mercator-Education). Additional ir:formation has been supplied by the Inspector for Regional Languages at the Academie of Rennes (M. Yves Evenou) and Diwan, Dihun and Div Yezh organizations. The data id tea the situation in the school year 1997-98 unless stated otherwise. Contents Foreword to the regional dossiers 1 Introduction to this issue 2 1 9 Pre-school education 2 Elementary education 10 3 14 Secondary education 4 16 Vocational education 5 Higher education 17 6 21 Adult education 7 22 Educational research 8 22 Prospects 9 23 Summary 10 25 Outline of education system 26 Notes 27 References 30 Addresses Regional dossier Breton 1 Foreword to the regional dossiers For several years now, Mercator-Education has attempted to background achieve one of its principal goals: to gather, store and distribute information on minority language education in European regions. Regional or minority languages are languages which differ from the official language of that State and which are traditionally used within a given territory of that State by nationals of that State forming a group numerically smaller than the rest of the State's population.' To date, Mercator-Education has been successful in establishing a computerized data bank containing bibliographic data, information about persons and organizations involved with minority language issues, and data collected during four inventory studies on pre-school education (Goot, Renkema & Stuijt, 1994), primary education (Sikma & Gorier, 1991), learning materials (Tjeerdsma & Sikma, 1994) and teacher training (Dekkers, 1995). In addition there is a need for documents stating in brief the most essential features of the educational system of regions with an autochthonous lesser used language. With the establishment of regional dossiers it is intended to meet this need. Regional dossiers aim at providing concise descriptive aim information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of the European Community. This kind of information, such as features of the educational system, recent educational policies, division of responsibilities, main actors, legal arrangements, support structures, and also quantitative information on the number of schools, teachers, pupils and financial investments, can serve several purposes. Policy makers, researchers, teachers, students and journalists target group in may use the information provided to assess developments European minority language schooling. They can also use a regional dossier as a first orientation towards further research 5 2 Education and lesser used languages (further reading and addresses are included) or as a source of ideas for improving educational provision in their own region. In order to link these regional descriptions with those of link with national educational systems, it was decided to follow the EURYDICE format used by EURYDICE, the European education information network in the European Union. EURYDICE provides information on the administration and structure of all levels of education in Member States of the European Union.' The information provided in the regional dossiers is focused on language use at the various levels of education. The remainder of this dossier consists firstly of an introduction contents to the region under study, followed by six sections each dealing with a specific level of the educational system. Sections eight to ten cover research, prospects and summary statistics. These brief descriptions contain factual information presented in a readily accessible way. For detailed information and political discussions about language use at the various levels of education, the reader is referred to other sources. Introduction to this issue 1 Breton, or Brezhoneg, is an indigenous Celtic language spoken language mainly in the West of Brittany, but also practised in the main cities of the Eastern part, called Upper Brittany. Traditionally it is the language of a large part of Brittany, but over the centuries the linguistic border gradually moved to the West. Linguistically, Breton forms part of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, to which also Welsh and Cornish belong. It is commonly agreed upon, that the Breton language is made up of four dialects : Kemeveg, Leoneg, Tregerieg and Gwenedeg. A modern unified form without a particular geographic basis evolved in the last fifty years. 6 Regional dossier Breton 3 As a language of the Brythonic branch the similarities with Welsh are still obvious, even though the languages have been isolated for more than thousand years and have been influenced in the last centuries by French and English respectively. At the beginning of World War I, the Breton speaking parts of Brittany counted some 900,000 people only speaking Breton, some 400,000 bilinguals and 50,000 who did not speak Breton at all. Today, of a total population of some 4,000,0003, about 240,000 can speak Breton to some extent next to French. Only half of them speak Breton on an every day basis. These are estimates', for the French authorities are still not eager to include questions about language in the general censuses. Several factors have contributed to account for the decrease in numbers of speakers: social and economic developments: as the people speaking Breton more often were farmers, fishermen and people in the rural areas, Breton was affected particularly by economic changes such as migration towards the cities during the last 30 years. the Breton language has always suffered from oppressive has been measures. The attitude of the French authorities the French very clear about this. In 1925, for example, Minister of Education declared: "For the linguistic unity of France, the Breton language must disappear". In 1972, Mr Georges Pompidou, then President of France, stated that there was no place for regional languages in France. the exclusion of Breton from decision making surroundings, the media, administration education, etc. In the last made that Breton is now a threatened language. the surface. It twenty years the official attitude changed on is no longer politically accepted to attempt belittling regional languages. In many cases state representatives is now too declare that, although they would be willing, it late to save the regional languages. Education and lesser used languages 4 education The French education system is largely state controlled system although some decentralization measures were taken in the eighties. School attendance is compulsory from 6 to 16, but children can be accepted in schools from the age of 2 years. Curricula are being made for all compulsory school levels. A basic principle is free public education and the opportunity for every young person to take up vocational training before he or she leaves the system'. During the period of compulsory education, payment of family allowances to parents is subject to registration and regular school attendance of their children. It is important to notice that the percentage of early schooling is very high in Brittany (92 % compared to 85 % in the whole of France). Curricula are being made centrally for all levels of compulsory schooling. During the period of compulsory education, payment of family allowances to parents is subject to registration and regular school attendance of their children. public and In its constitution, France advocates the idea of state private education in order to promote the values of the Republic itself. All teachers are paid by the national government through its Public Education Department (Education Nationale). Alongside the public education system, there are various categories of private schools in Brittany. The most common ones are the confessional, catholic, schools. In most cases these schools have signed a contract with the State, allowing them substantial support for teachers' salaries and teacher training. Such schools must adhere to timetables applied to public education. Most catholic schools adhere to timetables applied to public education. They depend from the Diocesan Direction for Catholic Education (DDEC). The percentage of pupils schooled through catholic education is quite high in Brittany: 8 5 Regional dossier Breton some 40 % of all pupils attend this form of private schooling'. A special case is formed by Diwan, the Breton immersion schools, which will be discussed separately. administration There are four administrative levels in France: state, region, departement and local community. At state level the Ministry of Education has almost total control: it defines the educational guidelines and curricula, the approval of diplomas, and recruitment, training and administration of staff. The State produces regulations on questions of management and supervision with which the majority of private schools are also required to comply. Through the decentralization laws of 1982 the French tradition of Parisian presence everywhere in the education system changed and the role of the regions, departements and local communities somewhat increased. Nowadays, the regions are responsible for building and maintaining the premises of upper secondary schools (lycees) and institutes for vocational training. Departements have the same responsibility for schools for lower secondary education (colleges). Local communities or town councils are responsible for primary schools. academie A particular characteristic of the French educational system are the administrative units of education (academies). The 28 units roughly correspond to the 22 regions of France. In each academie the director (recteur) who represents the Ministry of Education is responsible for the management of primary and secondary schools and for the enforcement of national regulations within the territory of the academie. The area of Breton speech lies in the territory of two academies: i.e. Academie of Rennes (for the four departements Cotes d'Armor, Finistere, Ille-et-Vilaine and Morbihan and the Academie of Nantes for the departement de Loire-Atlantique. There are currently discussions about integrating the plans for regional language and culture within the two academies. Education and lesser used languages 6 regional Since the Deixonne law (1951) and subsequent languages and implementation measures, Breton language and culture may cultures be taught for 1 to 3 hours a week in public education if the teacher is willing and able to do it. Therefore, extra teaching hours are offered outside the curriculum. Besides, there are some public and catholic schools which have adopted bilingual streams or are totally bilingual. These bilingual streams at public schools are being promoted by private initiative, by two organizations: Div-Yezh and Dihun (see under support structures), and have worked out their own bilingual education schemes'. Bilingual sections at public education institutes can be created upon the request of at least 15 parents with the consent of the mayor. The most favourable authority towards the promotion of Breton is the Finistere departement, which allots Ffrs. 5,000,000 every year to the maintenance of bilingual classes and the development of learning materials. Recently the director of the Academie of Rennes launched the idea of drafting a cultural charter for all public schools, which should promote the cultural identity of Brittany in teaching, not only by integrating regional entities in already taught subjects, but also enhance the possibilities of teaching Breton. The General Inspectorate assesses the school curriculum, the inspection exams and the competitive higher examinations in the name of the Ministry. General Inspectors are appointed by school subject or by administrative service. At the level of the academie the director is supported by Regional Pedagogic Inspectors, who are more specifically charged with assessing the teaching at secondary schools. In each departement, an inspector of the academie applies the ministerial directives (and those of the director of the Academie) and manages more particularly primary school education and these inspectors are in charge of the assessment of primary school and lower secondary teachers. 10