Ethnic language classes scrapped

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From BBC.Com


Ethnic language classes scrapped

A school in London is to scrap its policy of teaching science to Turkish
children in their ethnic language.  The new head teacher of White Hart
Lane School in Tottenham says the system did little to improve results.
About 400 of the school's pupils speak Turkish and those taking GCSE
science had been given bi-lingual lessons. But results for this group and
for other students remained stubbornly low, with only 23% getting a grade
C or higher at GCSE.

The system was introduced in 2001 and the plan had been to extend it to
Somali pupils, according to the Times Educational Supplement (TES). More
than 70% of pupils there have English as a second language and 65
different languages are spoken. At the time, the idea was praised by the
then education minister Stephen Twigg. But new head teacher Joan McVittie
was concerned the scheme might deter Turkish pupils from mixing with
others.

"The children should be proud of their heritage," she told the TES. "But
these are young people growing up in London. We need to prepare them for
work and life in London, so when they are in school they should
communicate in English."


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/4724556.stm

Published: 2006/02/17 15:31:54 GMT