Fryslân

Key Findings overall

Fryslân is a province with two official languages, which is visible in the results of the study. Especially within education there is structural attention paid to the Frisian language, although the signed undertakings of the ECRML are not all fulfilled completely. On the continuum of education, from pre-primary education, via primary and secondary education to VET, the status of Frisian within education becomes less and less prominent.

The situation with regard to foreign and immigrant languages is the same as in the Netherlands overall, except that immigrant languages get less attention in education in Fryslân, which can be accounted for by the low proportion of immigrants in the province.

Promising initiatives and pilots

Language pack

Upon registering the birth of their child, parents in Fryslân are presented with a language pack (‘Taaltaske’). This language pack is offered by the province of Fryslân. The aim is to point out the advantages of plurilingualism. The materials in the pack include a brochure about plurilingualism, a Frisian children’s book, and a CD with children’s songs (Provinsje Fryslân, 2011b).

Trilingual education

Within the province there are several trilingual primary schools. These schools use Dutch, Frisian, and English as languages of instruction, starting with a 50-50 division between Dutch and Frisian as languages of instruction in the first six grades (children aged four to ten) and ending with 40% Dutch, 40% Frisian, and 20% English in the last two grades (children aged 11-12). This trilingual model yields positive results: the pupils’ level of Dutch at the end of primary school is not negatively affected by the time spent on English and Frisian and is comparable to national levels; the pupils’ Frisian reading and writing skills improve; and the pupils are more at ease using English (Taalsintrum Frysk/Cedin, 2011b). In 2011 the network of trilingual schools had grown to 41 members (Taalsintrum Frysk/Cedin, 2011a).