CLASSROOM PEDAGOGY
Looking beyond the local
Equity as a global concern in Early Language Learning
Around the world, the popularity of English has escalated, particularly at the primary school level (Butler, 2015), yet provision of sufficient qualified teacher expertise to meet demand
continues to be inadequate. The OECD report on Equity and Quality in Education reports that: “The highest performing education
systems are those that combine equity with quality. They give all children opportunities for a good quality education” (OECD, 2012). This paper adopts a sociohistorical perspective to critically examine the
OECD criteria of achieving equity and quality through fairness and inclusiveness with reference
to Uruguay, India and China – all contexts where English has been introduced at primary and kindergarten levels. The analysis
draws on data from classroom observations, interviews with teachers and key stakeholders. Findings indicate that while access to
the quality provision of English in primary schools and kindergartens has been substantially expanded in recent years in each
jurisdiction, the challenges of ensuring universal quality provision have proved complex under conditions where the pre-existing
historical and political contexts have limited progress towards equity.
Article outline
- Introduction
- A brief history of primary foreign languages provision
- Conceptualising equity in education
- Equity and digital technology in Uruguay
- Uruguay national curriculum background
- A brief historical perspective on language and language planning in Uruguay
- Current provision for primary foreign languages in Uruguay
- Measuring equity in primary foreign language provision in Uruguay
- Equity and free primary education in India
- Background of primary education provision in India
- A brief historical perspective on language and language planning in India
- Current languages provision in Indian primary schools
- Evaluating equity in primary languages provision in India
- Equity in language education for Shanghai kindergartens
- Kindergarten provision in Shanghai
- A brief historical perspective on language and language planning in China
- Current languages provision in Shanghai kindergartens
- Evaluating equity in primary languages provision in Shanghai kindergartens
- Discussion and conclusions
-
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