In this paper we critically examine colonial and post-colonial language policies with a special focus on Creole communities in the Caribbean and South America. The paper suggests that while faced with similar issues these communities do not constitute a homogeneous group and consequently blanket solutions are not available to change the asymmetrical social and linguistics system inherited from the colonisers. The paper argues that (new) educational policies need to be squarely based on a careful sociolinguistic analysis of each situation and must take a multi-model approach in order to effectively address existing language-based social inequalities.
Section 2 briefly introduces the field of language and colonialism, discussing the main research issues and colonial language practices. Section 3 deals with educational practices in colonial and in post-colonial societies, especially in Africa. Section 4 surveys the research on Creoles focusing on its contribution towards improving language-related discrimination in Caribbean Creole communities. Section 5 explores the development of educational practices in different Creole communities and section 6 investigates educational practices in French Guiana arguing for a multi-model approach. The final section summarizes the findings and outlines current research needs.