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ABSTRACT
Multilingual education (MLE) is increasingly recognized as a means to ensure equitable access to education for children with a nondominant first language and to retain endangered languages. UNESCO has championed MLE and identified 10 essential components in planning implementation of MLE implementation. This article examines these 10 components in Cambodia’s implementation of its first Multilingual National Action Plan (2014–2018), drawing on an independent in-country evaluation conducted by the authors in 2019. The findings suggest that UNESCO’s 10 essential components are a useful guide for planning MLE, but that three even more foundational components are missing from this formulation. Visible, collaborative national leadership is critical to assure stakeholders, especially teachers and parents, that MLE is authorized in government schools. Adequate financial and technical resources must be provided to subnational actors charged with ensuring quality education. The nondominant language speakers and advocates are at the root of MLE: without the language and proficient speakers, MLE is nearly impossible. These three elements – leadership, resources, and input from nondominant language speakers – are often missing in language planning and partnership development, and they account for many of the gaps in the implementation of MLE in Cambodia during its five-year term.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jessica Ball
Jessica Ball, MPH, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria in Canada. Her program of research uncovers processes that produce marginalization and inequities for Indigenous and other non-dominant populations in Canada and the Asia-Pacific region. Her scholarship seeks to inform innovative education and social policies, school curricula and teacher preparation that respond to the needs and goals of non-dominant language speakers including children and adults.
Mariam Smith
Mariam Smith, M.Sc. Mariam specializes in professional education with expertise in multilingual education. Mariam has over 20 years of experience, mostly in Sweden and Southeast Asia, working with civil society organizations in rights-based, actor-focused approaches to education, community development, and organizational change. She is co-director of Learning Loop, a consulting group that helps organizations learn, self-evaluate, and change (https://www.learningloop.co/).