A language guide!? Why?
The LAKS board of ’22-’23 has started creating a language guide. With this guide we draw attention to language use in education and what consequences language can have. Language has the power to exclude people and to reinforce stereotypes and prejudices. How we talk about certain topics and what words we use for them is very important, because it determines how we see and talk about the world.
The language guide consists of two different parts. In one section we focus on language use in policy. For example, words such as “high and low educated”, “up and down” and “disadvantaged student” are sometimes used in policy documents, such as reports. LAKS believes that these words should be changed. For example, the term “highly and poorly educated” suggests that one course is better than the other, while LAKS believes that courses should be valued equally. Therefore, state as much as possible what exactly you mean – is it about people with a university, HBO or MBO educational background? For the same reason, we prefer to speak of “educational directions” rather than “educational levels”.
The other part is about language use in the classroom. For example, how do you ensure that gender-sensitive language is used in the classroom? For example, are people ever asked about pronouns or is the class divided into “boys and girls”? Is the colonial and slavery past of the Netherlands discussed in class? And what words do teachers and students use to talk about this? The classroom should be a safe place for all students. With this part of the language guide we would like to draw attention to this.
The language guide 2.0!
As we promised in our guide last year, we revise the guide every year. This is the first time this year! We have chosen to revise the language guide every year, because language is changeable. By working with the language guide we learn more about what meaning words (can) have. Every year we also ask various (educational) parties to think about this.
For example, this year we have a new alternative to ‘staying put’. Last year we said that ‘doubling’ was a better alternative, but we will now return to that. Since doubling is not an accessible word, we suggest ‘redoing a year’. We have also chosen to no longer call ‘up and down’ ‘flow’, but to ‘switch’, because ‘down’ is still too often used as a counterpart for ‘through’. We have also added new words. For example, we have added a page about the MBO levels and about pre-university education (gymnasium and atheneum). Finally, several pages have been adjusted, for example we have written new articles on the pages about ‘newcomers’, ‘students staying at home’ and ‘students with a chronic illness or disability’.
Curious about the updated version of the language guide? Email us for a physical copy or see below for the online copy!
Want to join the conversation?
The language guide is never finished! Language is constantly evolving, so we make sure our language guide changes with it. Do you have ideas for our language guide? Would you like to see a word changed or do you have additions? Then get in touch with us!
If you have questions about the language guide or ideas for a topic, please email LAKS: info@laks.nl