Language and education

Abstract

The relationship between the Galician language and the education system has been determined by the level of social, political and legal recognition of this language throughout history. Such recognition has mostly been precarious, so that only in very specific periods (mainly starting with democracy in 1978) could Galician become official and fulfil, as a result, public and institutional functions such as education. In this chapter, we intend to analyse, in a descriptive and evaluative manner, the role played by Galician in the education system. We will focus on the present situation, in addition to examining history in order to reveal a permanent tension between vindication and concealment that still exists today. The analysis of the present is addressed from different standpoints: the situation in different levels of formal education, adult education and language teaching outside Galicia.