ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the motivations behind the implementation of bilingual education in the Dutch preschool system and relates this to the status of Dutch in the Dutch educational system. Based on the analysis of policy documents and questionnaires filled in by parents and teachers, this study reveals two different underlying ideologies that the government, daycares and parents have adopted. The ideology of the Dutch government and daycare organizations visited by a Dutch-speaking audience is centered around Dutch-speaking children acquiring English as a foreign language. On the other hand, non-Dutch speaking parents and daycare organizations visited by an international audience rather want to expose non-Dutch speaking children to Dutch, to facilitate better integration into the Dutch community. The data thus suggest that not only English but also Dutch is important for many parents. Still, the introduction of bilingual daycares is part of an ongoing ‘Englishization’ of the Dutch educational system that has been taking place for decades. Future research should determine what a larger scale introduction means for the status of the Dutch language in the Dutch preschool system in the long run.

摘要

本文分析了荷兰学前教育系统实施双语教育的动机，并将其与荷兰语在荷兰教育系统中的地位联系起来。通过对家长和教师填写的政策文件和问卷的分析，本研究揭示了政府、托儿所和家长所采用的两种不同的潜在意识形态。荷兰语观众参观的荷兰政府和日托机构的意识形态集中在讲荷兰语的儿童将英语作为外语学习。另一方面，国际观众访问的非荷兰语父母和日托机构更希望让非荷兰语儿童接触荷兰语，以促进更好地融入荷兰社区。因此，数据表明，不仅英语而且荷兰语对许多父母都很重要。尽管如此，引入双语日托是荷兰教育系统持续“英语化”的一部分，该系统已经持续了几十年。从长远来看，未来的研究应该确定更大规模的引入对荷兰语在荷兰学前教育系统中的地位意味着什么。