Intergenerational Adaptation in Complementary Schools

Project title:

Intergenerational Adaptation in the Complementary School Sector: Language, Culture, Identity and Community Needs

“This project will explore the adaptive changes that established complementary school communities have undergone over two to three generations of Heritage Language learners.”

Researcher:

Project proposal:

The complementary education sector has served its diverse communities for half a century by teaching children their heritage language (HL) and being a pillar of support for their families, fostering multilingual skills and intercultural competences. However, this dedicated work is historically under-recognised, with many schools being chronically under-resourced.

This project will explore the adaptive changes that established complementary school communities have undergone over two to three generations of HL-learners. The fieldwork will be based on three communities in London that have been providing HL education since the 1980s. A mixed-methods design, using interviews and focus groups with current and former learners and school staff, and surveys for the wider school communities, will triangulate themes on learners’ language and cultural practices, identities and priorities, and project future community needs.  

The findings will develop a repository for funds of knowledge that represent generations of learners, and their educators, and inform other communities that undergo intergenerational adaptations to the changing educational and cultural landscape. The knowledge will benefit the general education system and support organisations that cater to the growing proportion of pupils with additional languages and help to develop intervention projects for creative educational practices in the face of under-resourcing.

Photo by Jerry Wang on Unsplash

Themes: