Views of Pupils and Parents at the Bilingual Elementary School in Prekmurje

Mojca Medvešek

Summary:  The bilingual school in Prekmurje region, which has been in existence for sixty years, is often under scrutiny by the public, politics and the profession. Often is checked its pedagogical efficiency and also, the financial, personnel and other organizational aspects of the bilingual school are placed at the forefront. In the article, we present the results of research on the perceptions of pupils and their parents about whether the bilingual school provides an adequate education in the mother tongue, both for the minority and for the majority. The perceptions of pupils and their parents were ascertained by means of a survey conducted among pupils of the third educational period of the four bilingual schools and their parents. The results of the survey show that bilingual schools are especially supported by pupils and parents who have either Hungarian or both languages (Slovene and Hungarian) for their mother tongue. There is, however, a part of the population (especially parents and pupils with Slovenian mother tongue) who believes that learning the Hungarian language at school should not be compulsory for all. The attitudes of parents and pupils who show little interest in the learning of Hungarian language cannot be tied only to the quality or efficiency of the bilingual school, but it’s also related with the lower interest of the population of Prekmurje region to learn Hungarian, due to the lower status Hungarian language and weaker economic and socio-cultural links with Hungary.