Should my child be taught bilingually in the primary school but not in the secondary school? 

Some parents find it quite natural for their children to be educated bilingually in the primary school because such schools are often child-centred. There is curriculum time and an informal, pleasant atmosphere for language acquisition to occur in the primary school. The primary years seem a time when language acquisition is a higher priority compared with the demands of later secondary school examination success. Some parents therefore see the primary school as the ideal arena where a child's bilingualism flourishes.

Sometimes, the same parents have different ideas for secondary education. Secondary education is viewed as a time to become serious about subject learning, examination success and readiness for the employment market. During secondary education, both teachers and parents become increasingly interested in the child's achievement in Mathematics and Science, the majority language and Humanities. A second language becomes an examination subject. Bilingual development for some parents does not become so important during the secondary years. The goal is examination success, graduation, movement into college or university, and opening up employment prospects.

In countries where bilingual education flourishes successfully at the primary level, too often educational administrators, politicians and parents find bilingualism and bilingual education a lower priority in secondary schooling. One reason for bilingual secondary education is that it provides educational language continuity for the child. Having been taught through two languages to the end of primary education, it is quite sensible for the child to continue the primary school language pattern in the secondary school curriculum. Research tends to suggest that dual use of language in the secondary school curriculum will not have a negative effect on children's progress and later success. Indeed, there may be a slight gain to be made in achievement across the curriculum and, at the least, in securing a high standard in a second language. Bilingual secondary schools often produce children whose bilingualism and biliteracy are both well developed. One requirement is that children enter secondary education with sufficient language competence to cope with the language level used by teachers and found in curriculum materials.
Another requirement in language minority situations is that schools have appropriate curriculum materials in the minority language. Quick translations from the majority language, poorly produced, photocopied worksheets and handouts are no substitute for professional, high quality presentation, and modern curriculum materials in the minority language. This is expensive but fairly essential. Such language minority secondary schools sometimes resort out of apparent necessity to glossy, majority language curriculum resources. In this circumstance, the majority language is not only promoted at the expense of the minority language, the relative status of the two languages is also projected. The minority language is shown to be deprived and inferior. This is an international problem found in many minority language schools.

One barrier for monolingual parents in sending their children to bilingual secondary schools is that they may be unable to help children with their homework. Children whose two languages are both well developed usually have little difficulty in translating to help parents understand the problem. The act of translating sometimes seems to help understanding. While it may take a little extra time to translate, the secondary school child and monolingual parent can interact and think through a homework problem together.

In addition, when both languages are well developed, children in secondary education can have their textbooks in one language with parallel or similar textbooks in a second language also available. Therefore, in Mathematics and the Sciences, children can have access to explanations and illustrations in both languages. This seems to increase their probability of understanding.

Another objection by some bilingual parents to bilingual secondary schooling is that the language of universities and colleges is often a majority language. By the age of sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, bilingual children seem so fluent at switching between languages that they can relatively easily adapt to working at university or college in either language. So long as the language to be used at university has been well developed and there is the depth of vocabulary and complexity of linguistic structure required in higher or tertiary education, there is little reason a child cannot switch languages from school to college.