Reasons for community language learning in Ukrainian complementary schools in Italy

The increasingly diversity, multi-culturalism and multilingualism of Italian society has not had any real impact on Italian state language policy and planning: community languages, that is the languages of relatively recently arrived migrant communities in Italy, are not taught in Italian state schools, neither to students with a migrant or refugee background, nor to native students. Given this absence of provision in the state system, learning of community languages is primarily achieved through complementary education. Drawing on qualitative data obtained from interviews conducted with school organisers and teachers, this paper presents a discussion of the reasons for Ukrainian language teaching and learning in two Ukrainian complementary schools in Italy. Ukrainian complementary schools provide an appropriate and fruitful terrain of investigation due to the size of the Ukrainian migrant population in Italy, and because complementary education is the only opportunity available for Ukrainian language learning at school level in this country.