How many pupils in Europe are schooled in classrooms where the language of instruction is one they have yet to learn? At present, the drop-out rate of newly arrived migrant children is high and, not surprisingly, the academic achievement is, on average, below their non-migrated peers. In elementary school, language biographies, school education, age level and educational level are perceived in different ways, which makes the transition between the different countries complicated.

Importantly, we need to reflect on what it means for the education system to be inclusive. From a language perspective, “inclusive curricula integrate the language dimension comprehensively and go beyond a simple opposition between monolingual and bilingual educational models or mother tongue versus foreign language” (Herzog-Punzenberger et al, 2017, p. 9). However, our school systems in Europe are still very heavily oriented to monolingual pupils.

The newly arrived populations, having moved between different places, may have developed rich and segmented competencies in several languages and different experiences of schooling, languages and communication. Therefore, easy binary distinctions between literate versus illiterate, native versus non-native, may not be relevant anymore. Instead of separating and layering languages, Piccardo proposes a plurilingual approach. She positions language acquisition as part of a dynamic process which spans the psychocognitive, socio-cultural, and pedagogical areas. She underlines the inter-relation and inter-connectedness of the languages. This repositioning would allow the learner to “see bridges and links instead of obstacles and difficulties” (Piccardo, 2013:610).

Following this reasoning, language is not the goal of instruction anymore but a tool for the student to use autonomously. Despite the converging evidence for this approach, its logical implications have not yet seen the daylight in the political arena of our countries where policy is made. It is essential to make sense of the dynamic complexity of social and linguistic representations, beliefs and practices to understand why policy does not adhere to these new classroom environments.

In this symposium using the examples of three countries (Finland, The Netherlands and England), we examine the teachers’ and schools’ expectations and beliefs in relation to language planning at curriculum and classroom level to determine how often and in what contexts the first languages are represented. In their presentation, Groothoff & Le Pichon will pay close attention to multilingual practices (or the absence thereof) in relation to the curriculum in The Netherlands at preschool level. Uncovering this information can be step towards adapting the curricula and in-service professionalization of the teachers towards a more multilingual classroom. Alisaari and her colleagues examine the expectations of 820 teachers in relation to 14 parents’ expectations by means of a large-scale questionnaire. Repo analyses answers to semi-structured groups’ interview in Finland and contrasts the teachers’ expectations to the pupils’ school achievements. Perumal and Donovan examine the ways in which specific supportive pedagogies can combine with explicitly articulated (positive) teacher expectations to produce favourable outcomes in the literacy development of multilingual learners.

Our symposium will be based on a change in perspective, one that Frimberger termed a move from seeing a lack of language competence as a problem of the speaker but a problem for the speaker (Frimberger, 2016). The focus is not solely on mastery of the language, but on a “broader perspective of language education and personal development” (Piccardo, 2013:610).

Frimberger, K. (2016). Towards a well-being focussed language pedagogy: enabling arts based, multilingual learning spaces for young people with refugee backgrounds, Pedagogy, culture and society. 24(2) 285-299. Herzog-Punzenberger, B., Le Pichon, E., & Siarova, H. (2017). Multilingual education in the light of diversity: Lessons learned. NESET II report, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2017. Piccardo, E. (2013). Plurilingualism and Curriculum Design: Toward a Synergic Vision, TESOL Quarterly, 47(3) 600-614.