‘Just accept each other, while the rest of the world doesn’t’ – teachers’ reflections on multilingual education

Research suggests that in linguistically and socially diverse classrooms,teachers should draw on their students’ multilingual repertoires.Although several approaches to use students’ home languages exist,the accessibility of this knowledge among teachers is still limited.Recently, a holistic approach has been put forward to address the needsof teachers in navigating the jungle of available knowledge. Within twoprojects in the Netherlands the approach was tested to develop multilingualapproaches. Using data from vignettes applied after a two-yearintervention period, this paper first explores knowledge, attitudes andskills developed by the participating teachers on implementing formsof multilingual education. Next, it analyses interaction data by applyinga critical discourse analysis to filter out how othering strategies occurwhen teachers refer to their linguistically and culturally diverse students.The results show that the teachers mostly hold enhancing attitudes,particularly in terms of using the students’ home languages inclass, while othering strategies towards multilingual students only rarelyoccur. This may highlight the importance of professional developmentfor teachers-in-duty, and allows for valuable insights also for otherschools who wish to engage in multilingual education