Gender, language and inclusion

Schooling designed for dominant groups excludes other learners. Girls are particularly vulnerable because of their home responsibilities and the unsupportive attitudes of families and teachers.

New evidence suggests that the inclusive strategies used in mother tongue-based bilingual education benefit girls even more than boys no matter what group they are from.

Studies in Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Mozambique have found that more girls enrol in bilingual schools, that they repeat classes less frequently and that they stay in school longer than girls learning in the dominant language.

More quantitative and qualitative research that separates data by sex is needed, but there are clear indications that girls benefit from learning in their first language due to factors such as:

Higher female enrolment

Families have more confidence in the educational outcome if their daughters can attend a school that communicates in a familiar language, especially when accompanying cultural values are respected. Traditional views may also be challenged, as happened in Bar‡, Guinea-Bissau: the bilingual programme convinced many caregivers that girls with a formal education could still be good wives, mothers and community members.

Increased parent participation

Improved communication encourages families to talk to teachers, support students' learning and become more involved in school decision-making. For example, parents of bilingual students in Xai-Xai, Mozambique, got involved in repairing the school premises and contributed to the curriculum.

Less exploitation of girls

Male teachers from the same linguistic and cultural communities as their students are more subject to social control and less likely to exploit girls sexually or otherwise. In Mozambique, bilingual male teachers were called by familial terms such as 'uncle', and had closer ties with students' families than teachers who only spoke Portuguese.

Mother tongue-based schooling also contributes to girls' psychological well-being. Girls learn better, gain self-esteem, build self-confidence and have higher aspirations for the future, making academic success more achievable.

Educational programmes that build on learners' strengths, and especially the languages in which they communicate best, benefit all students, but especially girls.

Carol Benson
Centre for Teaching and Learning, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
T +46 816 4262
F +46 816 4457
carol.benson@upc.su.se

See also

Girls, Educational Equity and Mother Tongue-based Teaching, by Carol Benson, UNESCO, Bangkok, 2005
www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/Girls_Edu_Equity

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