Case study III: Hidden voices?

“One of my children must school French in case a visitor comes to our house”: Language-in-education policy in Vanuatu through the eyes of a well-meaning mother

Fiona Willans, King’s College London

Choosing a primary school: The Vanuatu education system in context

12

34

5

French-medium English-medium

OR

Language(s) within official education policy

• English or French as medium of instruction; the other language is taught as a subject

• School rules that ban the use of Bislama (the co-official language) and the remaining 106 languages of Vanuatu

• Sporadic efforts to implement mother tongue education (Year 1 only)

• Official policy of “bilingualism” (English/French)

Martha’s argument (1)We need both English and French, in order to communicate with

tourists

“Mi mi talem se wan pikinini blong mi mas skul French. Sapos yumi gat wan visita we i kam long haos we i toktok French? At least mi gat somebody we i andastanem.”

[I’ve said that one of my children must school French. Suppose we have a visitor who comes to the house who speaks French? At least I’ll have somebody who understands.]

Martha’s argument (2)We need to be “bilingual” to get jobs

“Sapos yumi talem se wan bilingual uh (.) person? Bae hem nao bae hem i karem mo janis blong karem wan job? Compared to wan we hem i either Anglophone nomo o Francophone nomo.”

[If we talk about a bilingual uh (.) person? He now has more chances to get a job? Compared to someone who is either just an Anglophone or just a Francophone.]

Martha’s argument (3)We need both English and French, because they are used all around us

“Mi lukum long (.) tudei like you go anywhere? French mo Inglis nao hem i surround long ol eria/s o iven raon long ples ia yu luk.”

[I see that (.) today like you go anywhere? French and English surround us everywhere or even around here you look.]

Tourist numbers on the island of Ambae

80-90% tourists remain in capital city 99% to three islands only ( ) Ambae tourism advisor without tourists

Sources of Vanuatu visitors (June 2012)(Vanuatu National Statistics Office, 2012)

The language(s) of tourism

Australia New Zealand

New Caledonia

Other Pacific

Europe North America

Other

63% 17% 7% 3% 5% 2% 3%

Both English and French are necessary,

14.1%

Either English or French is necessary,

11.3%

English is necessary (no mention of French), 20.4%

French is necessary (no mention of English), 0.7%

No mention of languages, 53.5%

Stated language requirements within job advertisements

(2 month sample of all daily and weekly newspapers, 2011)

The language(s) of employment

36 public notices displayed around local commercial centre

Typed Handwritten

Bislama 9 19

English 7 1

French 0 0

Other languages 0 0

The linguistic landscape

Looking elsewhere for language

Questions

1. To what extent can Martha’s account be considered a ‘counter narrative’?

2. To which (or whose) accounts does her story run counter?