The Polish minority and the prehistoric period of teaching Languages and Cultures of Origin in France (1919–1939)

In 1919, France and Poland signed a Convention on emigration/immigration in order to
expedite the sending of Polish workers to France. No clause in this document provided
for the schooling of Polish children. French employers and Polish workers then set up
a Polish-speaking education programme.
With a view to possible and soon returning to their homeland, maintaining Polish
identity was necessary for people and entailed learning not only their native language,
but also all about Poland’s history and geography. Faced with the creation of these “Polish
classes”, several government circulars were published in the 1920s to regulate these
teachings and authorise foreign instructors, thus infringing the principle of non-differentiation
of children educated under the French Republican school system. When studying
this issue of Polish lessons taught in France between 1919 and 1939, it is interesting
to see how the Polish minority held a vital (and enduring) role in the establishment
of the Native Languages and Cultures education programme in France (the ELCO, still
currently at the heart of a debate).