Segregation in Language Education : The Case of South Tyrol, Italy

This book sets out to try to understand why segregated schooling still exists, especially in northern Italy in South Tyrol where they practice ‘separate but equal’ education.

This book sets out to try to understand why segregated schooling still exists, especially in northern Italy in South Tyrol where they practice ‘separate but equal’ education. Supported by the UN, the Austrian and Italian governments, the province is considered a ‘peace model’ due to its consociational approach to dealing with the region’s Nazi and Fascist past, which has led to a ‘negative peace’. The autonomy statutes, which derived from this ‘peace’, resulted in an education system that is linguistically segregated for the purposes of protecting South Tyrol’s ethnolinguistic minorities. Broken into two parts, the book begins with the background history of the province, before describing the region’s geographical layout, demographics, local identity, and its three-part schooling system. By examining responses to South Tyrol’s education system, and its impact on local group dynamics, this book explores the implications that segregated schooling may have on second language acquisition. This case study will be of interest to students and scholars of Italian studies, anthropology, linguistic ethnography, sociolinguistics, and second language education.