LANGUAGE, PEDAGOGY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY. Policy and practice in the Essay

LANGUAGE, PEDAGOGY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY. Policy and practice in the education of bilingual children - Essay Example hildren through formulation of teaching strategies that are effective in the improvement of academic competency of bilingual students’ as well as analysis of the policies that support bilingual education. The observed school is located in Tower Hamlets in East London. The learning environment in the school is very approachable and welcoming. The observed year one classroom has 30 pupils aged five years with 10 bilingual learners from Mexico, Somalia, Poland, Bangladesh, Brazil and France, making for a widely diverse language and cultural environment. According to Ofsted, the performance of the school is good in terms of pupil achievement, behaviour, quality of teaching, quality of the curriculum pupil’s welfare, health and safety as well as leadership and management. The performance of bilingual pupils’ has improved steadily as they have achieved comprehension that is near that of mainstream children. To improve the performance, it is recommended that pupils be given work that challenges them and matches their level of ability (Ofsted, 2013). Cummins’ 1986 empowerment theory analysis the learning trends of bilingual students’ exploring how status relations and power difference, minority language instruction, interdependence hypothesis, community and school liaison and power and status relationships impacts the school performance of minority groups. Cummins (1986) influence on teaching strategies and policy of bilingual education is arguably very effective in focusing on the education of the bilingual students in a holistic view as opposed to Conteh’s (2009) framework, that extensively focuses on integration of parents and the community. Cummins’ framework enhances the design of intervention to ensure the potential of revising the underachievement of most bilingual pupils’ by encouraging community and parent’s participation as well as collaboration of teachers in pedagogy (Delgado-Gaitan, 1991). According to Cummins, the aim of empowerment is