Expanding
Knowledge on Language of Instruction Policy
World Wide
June 2001 – November 2001
 Speakers
of local languages make up twenty-two percent of the world’s
population, yet few nations’ education policies and
few international education projects directly address the
fact that many children enter school with little or no
understanding of the language used in the classroom. The
national policies on language of instruction that do exist
are wide-ranging and have never been distilled so that
in-country policymakers can look at the experiments and
experiences of other countries with similar circumstances,
and learn from their successes and failures. This can lead
to mistakes repeated, resources wasted, and children continuing
to be excluded from education because of a lack of comprehension
of the language of instruction.
BEPS sought to address the
need for a comprehensive body of knowledge on language
of instruction that could
serve
to inform policy decisions. BEPS, in collaboration with
the World Bank, SIL, and the National Clearinghouse on
Bilingual Education, developed a Web-accessible database
containing country-specific information on experiences
from around the globe in language of instruction. The database
catalogues country information, language of instruction
policy, and research on pedagogical, economic, and institutional
impacts of language of instruction policies. The database
is searchable by country, region or keyword.
Through the
production of this database, BEPS sought to deepen the
knowledge base on international language of
instruction policy, resulting in better-informed project
design and policy decisions. The creation of the database
also resulted in collaboration between various institutions
and the development of dialogue and relationships around
language of instruction. These strengthened relationships
and building of common ground promote broader support of
language of instruction policies.
The database is live at:LOI/Database
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