Francina Martí: “Everyone in Catalonia knows that Catalan is the language in decline”

Francina Martí is president of the Rosa Sensat Teachers Association, one of the entities that are part of We are School, the platform that has called for this Saturday, December 18, a mobilization in defense of the school in Catalan in response to the sentence – pending application – of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), which obliges all schools de Catalunya to teach 25% of classes in Spanish. This mobilization now coincides with the controversy over the Canet de Mar case, in which the court has agreed with a family that demanded more teaching in Spanish. Som Escola attends this Thursday a summit of entities in defense of the Catalan school convened by Pere Aragonès

Does the open controversy at the Canet school tense or distort the call for 18-D?

It does not detract. But I don’t know if anyone from Som Escola imagined when we summoned her that things would be like this. The school in Catalan is the result of the will of a very high percentage of Catalan society and the educational community. Canet has created a fire that does not help at all. It has been taken from the end of the discourse of Castilian as a discriminated language. And this discourse does not hold up anywhere. On the contrary, Catalan is the language that is in decline, as recent reports point out. An impulse plan is necessary so that Catalan has a greater presence in schools. Now, with Canet, we are again before a fire with a speech that Castilian is in danger that is repeated periodically and that tires. A confusion has been created in which the victim becomes the aggressor and the aggressor is the victim. Such a bellicose tone should not be used. They speak of Spanish as an attacked language and the opposite occurs. Everyone in Catalonia knows that the weight of Spanish is very great. In many schools, even the use of Spanish is at 50% or 70%. In these years, with immersion, the objective has been achieved that all students have competence in the two official languages, that they value them and that they love them. Catalan is the language that gives us identity to Catalonia. It is a right of all boys and girls to have this heritage. Entering into this controversy is a dangerous game.

Is this about education or politics on both sides?

The pattern of action is to attack the Catalan language to destroy the country. And he dresses with an aggressiveness that doesn’t help. In Catalonia we want children to learn Spanish, but Catalan must be the vehicular language at school. It is the difference, for example, with the Basque Country or the Valencian Community. In Catalonia, there is only one way, that of not segregating students by language. And this is important. And with the latest waves of migration, the reception in Catalan has been a way of integrating these citizens, with all their rights and powers.

Education cannot be separated from politics, but it is a bad idea that politics do not help things to be done well. The partisanship distorts, entangles, makes the work of schools difficult. There is a feeling of discouragement among the teachers, that all we want is for them to let us work in peace.

Are bilingualism and immersion incompatible?

They are different concepts. In Catalonia there is bilingualism because two languages ​​coexist with public presence. One of them, Catalan, is a minority and therefore is in a situation of inferiority. The school has the essential role of structuring the country, of uniting it and Catalan plays that structuring role. We have understood it that way. The linguistic immersion model is adopted to guarantee the learning of the Catalan language. Perhaps the word immersion is confusing. But the objective of the model is that the language is learned through use, therefore it must be the vehicular language of the activity in the school. The tongue makes sense if it is used. There are children whose only contact they have with Catalan is at school. Immersion is not discriminating against anyone, on the contrary. It is leaving no one behind.

Is the consensus that prompted the dive in jeopardy?

I do not know. I hope not. There are political statements inflamed by all sides. There is a consensus among teachers about immersion as a model. Work must be done to maintain that consensus. Now is a difficult time. The request that we make the educational community is that they let us work so that Catalan is the vehicular language in school, to promote it more. That the political parties do not mix their interests. It is the parties that make very dangerous use of the language issue. In Catalonia we have accumulated experience that the Catalan school has succeeded despite everything. Now there is a lot of meddling. The judicial powers also get into the realm of schools. We would need an umbrella that would allow schools to work with peace of mind. And that schools like Canet’s are not disturbed by all these controversies.

Should the immersion system be checked?

Yes it should be reviewed. Circumstances change and pedagogy always has to be reviewed and updated. And more when the Catalan is in a situation of regression. A sign that there is something we are not doing right with the dive. But that revision should not be to put more hours of Spanish. The model must be revised but the objective is the same: avoid segregation by language and that children end up with full language skills.

The families that have turned to the TSJC claim that the Spanish language has more weight in school. Why is that not possible?

There is an individual right, but above it there is a collective right. All Catalan children have the right to learn both languages. We have a misunderstanding about rights. How can a single family make their individual right prevail over collective right? Perhaps nothing would happen if more classes were given in Spanish but that cannot be decided by an individual. Sometimes what happens is that they have identified the language with independence. And the Catalan language is more than that, it is what gives the country its identity, regardless of ideologies. We don’t speak Catalan to bother you. We are that way. It is a common, collective good that we want to maintain and take care of.

Are you aware that in Som Escola there are entities that would not see badly that the schools gave another subject in Spanish?

Som Escola is a diverse and plural platform. It is about being clear that children have the right to know both languages ​​and the best way is the immersion model. In addition, each center has autonomy to decide its linguistic project.

Do you think that the ‘Celáa law’ will leave the 25% sentences to nothing?

I thought that would be the case. The 2009 LEC and the Lomloe are the laws that protect us at this time. The ‘Celáa law’ does not speak of quotas, it speaks of the objective that students have full skills in the official languages. But there are those who have the clear objective of destroying the Catalan language, making it a language for private use.

How should schools react to the TSJC ruling? Or should the responsibility be assumed by the Government and the Department of Education?

The school has to work so that the children learn. It does not have to react to sentences. It is the Government and Education who have to ensure that legal disputes do not reach the schools. Education is the one who must stop the coup. The issue should not reach schools. As that was not clear, that is why Som Escola has mobilized to raise the alarm. We are faithful to the Catalan school. We want to make ourselves heard and it is the Government that must take measures and be more forceful in reaction to the judgment of the TSJC.

What will the application of the sentence of 25% Spanish mean in all schools?

I hope it is not applied. I hope that in Catalonia 75% of the classes will be applied in Catalan. We have to go further. It is not necessary to speak of percentages in education. It’s stupid. If the sentence is applied, there will be a setback that is very difficult to recover. In addition, I would like to say that Catalonia does not assume the legal framework and that the educational community is backing down in its objective of achieving competent students in both languages.

Experts and teachers affirm that there are already many schools where in practice 25% or more is already done in Spanish.

It’s true, for a long time. And it is dramatic, especially in ESO. This is really illegal, for teachers to give classes and hold meetings in Spanish, in breach of the linguistic project. We have to ensure that this does not happen and that the linguistic project is fulfilled. This is where we have gotten things wrong. The Canet thing is a fire that has to be put out. We have to focus in Catalonia on the decline in the use of Catalan in school and on seeing what we do to reverse this situation. Educació, how do we do it? What resources does the Government give? The Canet thing distracts from what is important.

Can the decline in the use of Catalan among students be reversed from school?

The language they use in the playground, outside of school, is theirs. It is difficult that the school can influence here. The school has to do well what it has to do, and that is to ensure that in school activities the vehicular language is Catalan. Because children value the language, that they see that it is useful and that it is a wealth. For this reason, the language must be Catalan. The patio is not the goal. For this we need involved teachers and create a linguistic awareness, which means transmitting the culture behind a language. Linguistic awareness is important because it transmits that Catalan is a country language, of cohesion. Catalan is not an invention. I have ESO students who do not see it as a language of normal use.

With what spirit are you attending this Thursday to the convocation of the ‘president’ Pere Aragonès? What do you expect?

With a spirit of work and collaboration. With the aim of pushing for Catalan to be the language of the school and with the idea of ​​demanding that the Government act in a forceful, conspicuous and clear way in defense of the language. We will propose more training for teachers to advance in the use of Catalan. What cannot be done is partisanship.

Do you think that the Government has not been clear in defending the Catalan school?

Let’s see what Aragonès says. I look forward to a step forward. And we have to give it together. We cannot fight each other. At the first summit that Som Escola had with the ‘president’ in November, Aragonès told us that for the Government the Catalan language was a country option and that he would give a country response. We agree on that. We are waiting to see how it takes place. I hope they specify and provide solutions.

Aragonès in response to Borràs said that they needed “solutions, not inventions.” Do you agree?

Let’s go to one. Let’s see how the Government gives legal coverage to schools, how we work on the plan to promote Catalan. You need to cooperate. If we fight, we go bad.

In Canet, the transversal concentration in favor of the school in Catalan ended with cries of independence from the organizers. Will the same happen in the Som Escola?

The objective is the school in Catalan, and the rest must be put aside. This is not about independence. Catalan is a common good, it is the language of Catalonia. It has been tried to sell that the Catalan school is a factory for independentistas, and it is not true. We Catalans see that Catalan is a common good, regardless of the ideas of each one. And this has given strength and cohesion to Catalan society, having a language that has structured our community.

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The vision of the subject differs radically depending on whether it is seen from Madrid or from Catalonia.

Completely. There is a different view of the concept of linguistic richness. Those who attack Catalan have not understood anything. Today it is easier to learn Catalan in a European university than in a Spanish one. In the rest of Spain, in general, they do not value. Catalan seems to bother. They tolerate it, but in the private sphere, not as a language of knowledge.