New challenges, old arguments: legal reflections on the status of catalan in education

Abstract

The 7/1983 Act, 18th April 1983, on the linguistic normalization of Catalonia, unanimously approved by the Parliament of Catalonia, established the bases of the linguistic conjunction model in the current educational system. In the last forty years, this model has been endorsed by constitutional jurisprudence, as well as praised by the Council of Europe in every single evaluation about how the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is applied. However, the normative bases of this model of multilingualism in classroom continue to be the focus of heated political and interpretative debates. This article reviews the legal arguments put forward in these debates and offers some arguments for critical reflection.