Author : Nick Gardner (Comp)
Publisher :
Page : 56 pages
File Size : 18,75 MB
Release : 2005
Category :
ISBN :
Book Description
This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of the European Union--the Basque country of northern Spain. Aspects that are addressed include features of the education system, recent educational policies, main actors, legal arrangements, and support structures, as well as quantitative aspects, such as the number of schools, teachers, pupils, and financial investments. This kind of information can serve several purposes and can be relevant for policymakers, researchers, teachers, students, and journalists. They can also use this Regional dossier as a first orientation towards further research or as a source of ideas for improving educational provisions in their own region. The subject of this dossier is Basque or "euskara," a non-Indo-European isolate language. The area where Basque has traditionally been spoken is called "Euskal Herria," the Basque Country. Since the late nineteenth century this name has been applied to an area comprising seven historical provinces: four in Spain (Araba/Alava, Bizkaia/Vizcaya (in English, Biscay), Gipuzkoa/Guipuzcoa and Nafarroa/Navarra (in English, Navarre)) sometimes collectively called "Hegoalde," the southern Basque Country, and three in France (Lapurdi/Labourd, Nafarroa Beherea/Basse Navarre and Zuberoa/Soule), collectively "Iparralde," the North Basque Country. This dossier discusses the situation in the southern or peninsular Basque Country. "Hegoalde" occupies about 17,800 km in northern Spain on the Bay of Biscay. A separate dossier discusses the situation of Basque in education in the French or continental part of the Basque Country ("The Basque language in education in France, Mercator-Education, 1998"). A glossary is included. (Contains 8 tables and 7 endnotes.) [Additional funding for this paper was provided by the Province of Fryslan and the municipality of Leeuwarden. For 2000 edition, "Basque: The Basque Language in Education in Spain. Regional Dossiers Series," see ED452720.].