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Mother tongue education refers to any form of schooling that makes use of the language or languages
that children are most familiar with. This is usually the language that children speak at home with their
family. The ‘mother tongue’ does not have to be the language spoken by the mother. Children can and
often speak more than one or even two languages at home. For example, they may speak one language
with their mother, another with their father and a third with their grandparents.

Although there is overwhelming evidence that children learn best in and through their mother tongues,
millions of children around the world receive education in a different language. This is usually the
dominant language of the country they live in. In the case of former colonies, this may not be the
language spoken in the community at all, but the language of the former colonial power, for example
English, French, Arabic, Dutch and Spanish. Languages that children may hear for the first time when
they enter school.

Bilingual children

Children who speak a different language at home than the language in which they are taught at school
will by definition become bilingual or multilingual. The degree to which they become bilingual may vary
considerably however and depends on the goal of the school programme.

There are bilingual education programmes that aim at teaching children a second language at no
expense to their first language. In such programmes equal importance is given to learning in and
through both languages and children learn how to take full advantage of their multilingualism and
biliteracy.

The majority of schools however offer education only in and through one language. Children who are
not fluent speakers of the school language may be offered some form of language support or no support
at all. The latter is also known as ‘sink or swim’. Children lose or leave behind their mother tongues and
use only the language of the school.

A third option, increasingly popular, are schools which offer bilingual education and which are aimed at
bilingualism, but not in any of the languages spoken by the child at home. For example a child who
speaks Somali at home and is enrolled in an English/Dutch bilingual programme.

Rutu’s Mission: Making Mother Tongue Education The Norm

The mission of the Rutu Foundation is to make mother tongue education the norm, rather than the
exception.

By this we do not mean that children should be offered education in their mother tongues only. We
believe that in today’s globalized world, all children benefit from a multilingual education which offers
them an opportunity to become fluent in their mother tongues as well as in the official language of the
state, and one or more foreign languages, allowing them to pursue higher education, to communicate
easily in more than one language, through different media and to contribute meaningfully to society.
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Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that the best way to achieve this is by educating children in and
through their mother tongues, alongside a second and/or third language.

Ultimately, mother tongue education is about creating a level playing field, about creating equal
opportunities for all, regardless of economic status, ethnic background or geographic location.

Benefits of mother tongue education

There are many benefits associated with an education that takes into account children’s mother
tongues:

Children learn better and faster in a language they can understand (preventing delays in learning)

They enjoy school more, they feel more at home

Pupils tend to show increased self-esteem

Parents participation is increased. Parents can help with homework and can participate in school
activities

Studies have reported that when children take advantage of their multilingualism they also enjoy higher
socioeconomic status, including higher earnings

On average, the schools perform better,reporting less repetition

Finally, schools report children stay in school longer

Is there a perfect model?

There is no one model that fits all contexts in which multilingual children are learning and which meets
all of their learning needs. Mother tongue based multilingual education can take many forms and each
school and each community should determine what works best for them. In general, however, the
longer a child is able to learn in and through his or her mother tongue(s) the greater the educational
benefits that can be expected.

What about multilingual classrooms?

In classrooms where 10 or more different mother tongues are spoken, a situation that is fast becoming
the norm throughout Europe, it would not be practically feasible to provide a full blown bilingual
education programme for each student. The best approach here is not to ignore all languages and opt
for one language only, as is frequently the case. Rather, translanguaging is a new pedagogic strategy and
shows exciting results when all languages are valued, when children are offered opportunities to use
their home languages in the classrooms, to make homework assignments in their mother tongue or to
collaborate at school with students who speak the same language. We look forward to sharing such best
practices with you in the months and years ahead