“It’s a world first, finally,” says with a smile Grégory Moigne, director of the Diwan high school in Carhaix (Finistère) for just one year. “The project had been on track for a while already, but we reworked this file last year and made good progress with all the players in the Diwan network and the regional elected officials.”
The project in question: the very first vocational education program in the Breton language, in animation for children and the elderly. In other words, a vocational baccalaureate in Animation for Children and the Elderly (BP AEPA), which is taught in Breton throughout the year, before exams in French (except for Breton), like the rest of high school students in “classic” vocational programs. “Such a program taught in a regional language had already been developed four years ago in Bayonne, in the Basque Country (by the Seaska federation, equivalent of Diwan in Brittany, Editor’s note), but not here,” recalls Grégory Moigne, who previously worked as a teacher.
This three-year course is open to any middle school student who has previously spent their schooling in the Breton language, with six places initially. “It should be noted that this baccalaureate deals not with care, but with animation. The weeks of internships will be carried out, each year, either around their place of residence, as close as possible to their home, or around the high school,” specifies the director.
At least one week of training entirely in Breton
During the six weeks of internship that the new high school students will have to complete, they will be able to join various establishments, such as leisure centers, youth centers, nursing homes, etc. “We only ask one thing of them: that there be at least one week of internship entirely carried out in Breton – this could be a media library where there are Breton speakers, a bilingual leisure center, entertainment clubs for the elderly where Breton is practiced…”
The goal: to be as independent as possible, and thus enter directly into the world of work or higher education (BTS, DUT, university cycles, etc.). “This type of training will allow them to work in the region, to develop the language, as well as increased linguistic and learning abilities,” adds Grégory Moigne, who points out that at the high school, both general and vocational, at Diwan, French, English, Spanish or German are taught entirely in the language. “We have learners who sometimes leave us trilingual, even quadrilingual.”
Note that the Diwan high school, which currently has 224 students and around thirty teachers, will celebrate its 30th anniversary on October 19 at the Glenmor space in Carhaix. Concerts and fest-noz are on the program, for an evening open to all audiences. The Diwan network will soon celebrate its 50th birthday.
