The Rutu Roadmap

Ellen-Rose Kambel, Rutu FoundationRahzeb Choudhury, Lifelong Inspiration

RUTU ROUNDTABLEMULTILINGUAL EDUCATION FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN IN EUROPE6 NOVEMBER/ UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS

09:45-10:15 /

#RutuRT

ADVANCING MOTHER TONGUE EDUCATION

“I used to get mad and aggravated because I couldn’t speak English. People were looking at me as if I were another type of human being.”

“I felt dumb and left out when we did advanced math because my teacher wouldn’t let me do it even though I knew I could.”

“I would try my best to learn English but it was hard. No one spoke [Spanish] so I wouldn’t make friends. I would sit in the back.”

What is Mother Tongue Education?

• any form of schooling that makes use of the language or languages that children are most familiar with

• Children may speak more than one mother tongue

• NOT: education in mother tongue(s) only

bilingual/multilingual education

Why Mother Tongue Education?

children learn better and faster in a language they understand

learning a second language is not affected they stay in school longer their self-confidence grows greater parent participation socio economic benefits

Why Mother Tongue Education?

Equal opportunities for All

Multilingualism is the norm

Monolingualism is the exception

Over 50% of the world’s population speaks more than 1 language

why are millions of

children not educated in their mother

tongues?

If we know this works….

UNESCO 2015

1. Lack of political will

• Colonial hangovers• National fears • Anti-migrant sentiment

But multilingualism and mother tongues continue to exist…

2. Costs

• Teachers need to be trained anyway• Additional costs less than 5 % of national

budget

2. Costs

Actual costs without mother tongue education:

• drop out• repetition• missed earnings• lower tax income• socio-economic impact

misconceptions

3. Lack of awareness

• Bilingual education will confuse children

• Children will not learn dominant language

• Too many languages in a classroom

• Practical concerns: not enough teachers,

not enough materials

where is evidence?

• In expensive academic journals

and books

• Many pilot projects worldwide,

but not widely shared or scaled

A few Mother tongue education projectssince 1950s

What Rutu Foundation does:

Teacher Training

Research

Multilingual Materials

Advocacy

What we would like to do

Make mother tongue education

the norm, not the exception

How?Building a global platform

A Global Platform

o build community & capacity

o communicate and lobby more effectively

o enable more mother tongue education

A Global Platform

• Best practice guidelines• Publications• Translation toolkits• Campaigns

A Global Platform

• Events (face-to-face & online)• Directory of organisations• Grassroots partnerships and programmes

Rutu Roundtable Multilingual Education for Migrant Children in EuropeTo share opportunities and barriers to introducing mother tongue based multilingual education for migrant children in Europe

To discuss Rutu Roadmap on making Mother Education the norm. Children are children the world over

Collaboration between the Rutu Foundation, Utrecht University and the Teacher Training Institute of Suriname (CPI)

Participants today

• Teachers• Parents • Policy makers• Teacher trainers

• Researchers• Donors• Business

Thanks to:Utrecht University

City Council of UtrechtLifelong Inspiration