Background to the project
Family life is changing fast, and school practices are not evolving to keep up with these changes (Cline, Crafter, de Abreu, and O’Dell, 2009). There is substantial family migration into and across Europe. One of the challenges the teachers and parents often face is the lack of a shared language for communicating about the school’s expectations and the children’s needs. Few schools have access to professional interpreting facilities across the range of home languages spoken by their parents, and only limited use can be made of bilingual teaching and support staff for interpreting. Because children often learn the host language much more quickly than their parents, increasing numbers of children and young people contribute to family life by acting as child language brokers (CLBs) for their parents.
In the past there has been some official support for schemes in which bilingual students were trained to act as interpreters for other students’ parents at national level (QCA, 2008) and local level (Hampshire, 2010), but there is no official guidance on the more common practice of using students to translate on behalf of their own families when the conversation with teachers is about their own or a sibling’s school progress. We have not been able to trace any explicit school policy statements or Ofsted observations on the practice. It is not covered in initial teacher education.
Aims of the project
The primary aim of the project was be to provide an evidence basis for more sensitive and effective practice and more carefully articulated school policies on the use of pupils as language brokers for their own parents and others in school. These outlined (i) the circumstances in which the use of a CLB would be justified and those in which the use of alternative arrangements would be preferable or essential, (ii) the provision of preparation and support for CLBs and school staff to ensure that identified pitfalls of CLB use are avoided, and (iii) the formal recognition of the efforts that CLBs make and the skills they demonstrate through this activity.
Methodological approach
We investigated two groups who we expect to bring distinctive and complementary perspectives to the topic - teachers in schools in multilingual areas and young adults who acted as language brokers in the course of their own school career (ex-CLBs). The teachers are from both the primary and secondary school sector from across London, the South East and the East Midlands. The young adults are recruited from universities and colleges known to have a culturally diverse make-up of students.
We gave both groups an on-line survey questionnaire to complete. We followed up with interviews with a small number of selected respondents.
In the past there has been some official support for schemes in which bilingual students were trained to act as interpreters for other students’ parents at national level (QCA, 2008) and local level (Hampshire, 2010), but there is no official guidance on the more common practice of using students to translate on behalf of their own families when the conversation with teachers is about their own or a sibling’s school progress. We have not been able to trace any explicit school policy statements or Ofsted observations on the practice. It is not covered in initial teacher education.
Aims of the project
The primary aim of the project was be to provide an evidence basis for more sensitive and effective practice and more carefully articulated school policies on the use of pupils as language brokers for their own parents and others in school. These outlined (i) the circumstances in which the use of a CLB would be justified and those in which the use of alternative arrangements would be preferable or essential, (ii) the provision of preparation and support for CLBs and school staff to ensure that identified pitfalls of CLB use are avoided, and (iii) the formal recognition of the efforts that CLBs make and the skills they demonstrate through this activity.
Methodological approach
We investigated two groups who we expect to bring distinctive and complementary perspectives to the topic - teachers in schools in multilingual areas and young adults who acted as language brokers in the course of their own school career (ex-CLBs). The teachers are from both the primary and secondary school sector from across London, the South East and the East Midlands. The young adults are recruited from universities and colleges known to have a culturally diverse make-up of students.
We gave both groups an on-line survey questionnaire to complete. We followed up with interviews with a small number of selected respondents.
