Multilingualism and Education/Meertaligheid en Onderwijs: Nederlands Plus (2017)
The Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium) are becoming increasingly multilingual. This is reflected in the classroom. Of the many languages spoken by pupils in schools, only a handful has a place within the education system. A missed opportunity.
This book (in Dutch, with a code inside that gives access to the online English version), provides the reader access to the latest academic findings as well as insight into the social importance of multilingualism and multilingual education. Several authors, including researchers, high school students, a lawyer, an artist, teachers and policy makers provide a broad approach of the subject and show the value of language diversity. The chapters discuss the multilingualism of students with a migrant background in the Netherlands and Flanders, but also relate to issues from Suriname, Sweden, the Dutch Antilles (St. Eustatius) and Frisian language education. The book includes recommendations for policy makers and education professionals, but parents with multilingual children may also get new insights into language policies and best practices at school and at home.
Orhan Agirdag and Ellen-Rose Kambel (eds.), Meertaligheid en Onderwijs: Nederlands Plus. Amsterdam: Boom Publishers/ Rutu Foundation (2017).
Challenges of Mathematics Education in Multilingual Post-Colonial Context. The Case of Suriname (2016)
In this book chapter, Emmanuelle Le Pichon (University of Toronto/Rutu Advisory board) and Ellen-Rose Kambel (director Rutu Foundation) examine whether the language of assessment influences performance scores of young dual learners in mathematics and reading tests in order to determine the role of dual language support at primary school level in Suriname. The objectives of this chapter are to deepen insight into Suriname’s linguistic landscape and to emphasize the need for plurilingual and intercultural education.
They place the debate in the context of international legal obligations of Suriname which approved the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007). This declaration includes the right of indigenous peoples to provide education in their own language in accordance with their traditions.
Given the current high academic dropout rate in Suriname, in particular in the rural areas, the resutls informed in this chapter are decidedly releant.
In: Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite (Ed.), Human Rights in Language and STEM Education, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers (2016).