Uppeldi og menntun - 01.06.2015, Page 79

Uppeldi og menntUn/icelandic JoUrnal of edUcation 24(1) 2015 79
ólAFUr pál l JónssOn
The relevance of language
Another theme which runs through the entire book is the relevance of language, both
language skills and the use of language in everyday communication. Incidents where
the relevance of language stands out vary from the exclusionary practice of not allow-
ing pupils to communicate in their native language (as in the Meadows School) to the
celebration of various languages in the Scottish research. In the latter, the use of native
language was explicitly tied to students’ agency.
Having specialist EAL teachers … and understanding the interdependence of lan-
guages ensured that collaborative and co-constructed practice was focused on addi-
tive bilingualism. This enabled newly arrived pupils from asylum-seeking families
also to have agency in the school system, as they brought their language and life
experiences into the classroom. (p. 120)
The relevance of language applies not only to the pupils but to staff also as was
brought out very clearly by an incident reported in one of the Icelandic cases.
… a rotation scheme was in place that saw the foreign-born staff read to the children
for the equivalent of 15–20 minutes a week. Some Icelandic staff members wanted to
make changes to the daily reading sessions so that they only included native Icelan-
dic speakers. This plan was eventually implemented in one of the four divisions – to
the extreme dissatisfaction of the foreign-born staff, who saw the gesture as demean-
ing and discriminative. (p. 21)
What concepts of social justice are at play?
Although all the studies deal with social justice in one way or another, there is very
little elaboration on a conception of social justice in the book. It is mainly in the last
chapter that a conception of social justice is discussed specifically. At the outset of that
chapter, the authors write:
Social justice can be defined in a number of ways but the underlying principles of
equity and inclusion remain:
• The social and economic resources of society are distributed for the benefit of all
people …
• A process is operating through which society attains a more equitable distribution
of power in the political, economic and social realms …
• The principles are based upon the belief that each individual and group within a
given society has a right to civil liberties, equal opportunity, fairness, and partici-
pation in the educational, economic, institutional, social and moral freedoms and
responsibilities valued by the community … (p. 129)