The Trilingualism Debate

These have been three months of long hot argument to match the summer heat. The return to school is typically reported as being “normal”. This year it threatens to be anything but normal. All the main teachers’ unions in the Balearics have called indefinite strikes. These are strikes not over pay, pensions or working conditions but over a purely educational matter. Or are they?
The source of the conflict can be summed up in one three-letter acronym: TIL. Standing for “tratamiento integrado de lenguas”, it means the integrated (or comprehensive) treatment of languages, which in turn means a move towards state education that promotes trilingualism. The languages to be integrated are Castellano, Catalan and English and they will be integrated in such a way that school classes will be conducted in one of the three languages.
The application of TIL was set out in April when the regional government approved its introduction. Basics of this application included a minimum of four or five hours teaching in English at different stages of primary education and, by fourth grade in secondary schools, a minimum of 20% of total teaching hours being devoted to the two official languages - Castellano and Catalan - as well as English. One of the subjects specifically targeted for English instruction from the start of secondary education was mathematics; the others were natural sciences and social sciences.