‘Dancing to the Music’ in the Philippines: Local Enactment of Shifting, Ambiguous Language-in-Education Policies

• In Event: Teachers' and Families' Perspectives on Language-in-Education Policies

Proposal

Introduction
Linguistically inclusive multilingual education (MLE) that uses the language(s) children understand best and cultivates multilingualism and multiliteracy can lead to better, more equitable learning outcomes, strengthen cultural identity, and promote linguistic diversity (Benson, 2022; Piper et al., 2016; Schroeder et al., 2021; Trudell, 2016). However, the global hegemony of English and other dominant, colonial languages and the complexities of large-scale MLE implementation in low-resource contexts feed heated policy debates around languages-in-education and in some countries, even lead to reversal of MLE policies and reinstatement of monolingual, dominant language education policies (Bernardo, 2008; Honeyman, 2015; Majhanovich, 2013; Rosendal & Ngagonziza, 2022).

In the Philippines, mother tongue-based MLE was nationally adopted in 2009 as a result of significant advocacy and research, replacing the Filipino and English Bilingual Education Program. Significant efforts and investments were made by the government, civil society, international organizations and, most of all, local educators to develop languages, create materials, and train teachers to begin using dozens of Philippine languages for teaching and learning in the early grades. Teachers in the Philippines largely had positive attitudes towards the use of home languages in education, provided they were given training and resources, and many became vocal advocates and agents for MLE (Adriano et al., 2021; Arzadon, 2021). Research found that the use of learners’ home languages increased active learning (Skoropinski, 2013) and likely contributed to improved foundational literacy learning nationally (Igarashi & Suryadarma, 2023).

However, as a complex policy introduced rapidly on a national scale, MLE in the Philippines faced implementation challenges in linguistically diverse areas and was hampered by resource shortages, poor language mapping and planning, and mounting political attacks grounded in linguistic imperialism (Bravo-Sotelo et al., 2023; Metila et al., 2016). The political pushback against MLE culminated in two policy changes in 2023 that relegated languages other than Filipino and English to an uncertain, marginal role in education. The Philippine Department of Education introduced a revised curriculum framework which removed the Mother Tongue subject (Department of Education, 2024). Shortly afterwards, the mother tongue-based MLE law was “suspended” by the Philippine legislature in 2023 and overturned in October 2024, privileging English and Filipino while creating ambiguity about the role of other Philippine languages (Congress of the Philippines, 2024).

The present study seeks to understand how educators in the Philippines have navigated this shifting policy landscape and ambiguity in the context of a politicized national discourse about languages-in-education. Language policy processes are multi-layered yet actors situated at different and similar levels within the education system wield power unequally to shape the way that policies are appropriated and enacted (Johnson & Johnson, 2015). Empirical research has shown that both teachers, school leaders, and district-level actors can be powerful agents in shaping school and classroom-level language policy (Johnson & Johnson, 2015). Therefore, this study uses a qualitative case study approach to explore the following research question: How do local and regional policy actors interpret, navigate, contest, and enact shifting and ambiguous language-in-education policies in the Philippines?

Theoretical Framework
This study draws on policy enactment theory, which recognizes teachers as both subjects and actors of education policy and theorizes that education policies are ‘made’ by local actors in creative processes of sense-making, interpretation, and enactment (Ball et al., 2012; Braun, Ball, & Maguire, 2011). Policy enactment studies illuminate complexity, nuance, and multi-directionality in the dynamic ways that policy is made in specific contexts (Heimans, 2014). Furthermore, this study utilizes the critical, process-oriented framework of comparative case study (CCS) developed by Bartlett and Vavrus (2017), which posits that policy actions across different scales (micro, meso, and macro) mutually influence one another within a network of unequal power relations.

Methods
In this study, I examine language policy enactment through a case study situated in a large elementary school in the Philippines. Unlike a traditional ‘bounded’ case study, Bartlett and Vavrus’ (2017) CCS framework combines contrastive comparison among cases with tracing a phenomenon of interest across scales to look at linkages across place, space, and time. I compare how policy actors who are differently positioned within the education system interpret and enact the shifting language-in-education policy. School-embedded qualitative research with thick description is well-suited to illuminating how local interpretations and negotiations may open up ideological and implementational spaces for multilingual education (Hornberger & Johnson, 2007).

I explore the sense-making and enactment of three Grade 1 teachers, drawing on participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Using interviews with the school head, instructional leaders, and regional education supervisors, I compare the policy interpretations among different actors and trace the multi-scalar processes of policy appropriation, resistance, and enactment. Policy documents and artifacts of national and regional policy-making processes are also analyzed to trace local policy actors’ sense-making and situate the study historically. Data was collected in spring 2025 as part of a broader dissertation study. Interviews were transcribed and translated into English by trained research assistants fluent in the relevant languages. Data were analyzed in Atlas.ti using inductive first-cycle coding and then pattern coding to compare and trace themes and processes across multiple data sources (Miles et al., 2019; Saldaña, 2021).

Emergent Findings
While analysis is still ongoing, initial findings illuminate key differences in the sense-making of regional and school leaders as compared to teachers, both in terms of the language policy messages they interact with and the manner of interpretation. In the context of ambiguous national policies, regional actors protect themselves through silence, opening up space for school-level actors to shape language policy. In the politicized climate and shifting policy landscape, Filipino is perceived by educators as the ‘safe’ choice for language of instruction, despite the fact that it is not a familiar language for most students and teachers find it less effective than teaching in the local language. Given this, pedagogical translanguaging emerges as an important area of policy interpretation and enactment, which is framed, understood, and enacted differently by actors across the system.

Author

• Kate Schell, Florida State University