Language, culture, and early childhood education in Catalonia and the Basque Region of Spain

Abstract

Spain has within its borders indigenous minority groups with their own languages and cultures, who are a majority in their respective regions, and whose autonomy has only recently been to some degree restored. Although Catalonia and the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC) were each influenced by differing historical, geographic. political, socioeconomic. and linguistic factors -their own indigenous languages and cultures were victimized by the policies of the central government for the four decades ending with the death of Franco in 1975. Catalonia and the BAC have had to learn how to crawl (to use a child development analogy) after having been gagged and swaddled by a national policy that totally repressed their languages and cultures in an unremitting policy of assimilation. It was through the education system that the Franco government tried to stop the use of Catalan (and Euskara) so it is not surprising that schools are again viewed as a major means of language revival (McNair, 1980). The impressionable years of early childhood are viewed as critical in this effort in both regions. This paper provides an overview of current "normalization" policies and legislation guiding these recuperation efforts, and then describes current educational practices in each region, focusing on innovative early childhood programs. Attention is given to both the resistance and accomplishments of these normalization efforts.Les Basques et les Catalans constituent deux des groupes minoritaires autochtones en Espagne qui representent une rnajorite dans leurs regions respectives mais dont 49