Multilingualism is not a self-evident field of action for school development. Yet, due to high numbers of children and young people bringing new languages in schools, the need for linguistic openness in schools has been frequently discussed, both in the European public sphere and in educational policy (Eurostat, 2017; Obondo, Lahdenperä, & Sandevärn, 2016). One pedagogy that advocates linguistic flexibility and openness to all of pupils´ languages in learning and teaching is translanguaging (García & Wei, 2014). Translanguaging has been described as both the ability of multilinguals to shuttle very easily between languages and as a pedagogy through which teachers enable children to recognise and use all of their languages for learning (García & Wei, 2014; Lewis, Jones & Baker, 2012). Furthermore, multicultural education, as with translanguaging, “seeks to release people from prejudices, to allow them to develop the capacity to explore other cultures and perspectives and to help them to manage their choices by being fully knowledgeable of the various options available” (Parthenis, Fragoulis & Kalliaras 2017; p. 247). Because it has a transformational approach, translanguaging would ideally be adopted by whole schools as a kind of new school culture (García & Wei, 2014). Yet, in the research base on translanguaging, the question of when and how to use the pupils’ languages as a resource for learning has not fully been answered (Lewis et al., 2012). For instance, the existing research, starting in the United Kingdom (English-Welsh) and the United States (English-Spanish), has tended to focus on showing examples of translanguaging in bilingual educational settings (Lewis et al., 2012). In worldwide reality, students bring far more languages with them to the classroom. Moreover, studies have frequently focused on translanguaging occurring “surreptitiously behind the backs of the teachers” (Canagarajah, 2011; p. 401). In contrast, a more active focus on translanguaging strategies is desirable, as García and Wei (2014; p. 73) explain: “if language and knowing are constitutive, as we said before, then we must pay attention from the beginning to getting students to use all their language practices to think critically and act on the world.” In this respect, the focus of the present symposium is the question of how approaches to multilingual didactics such as translanguaging can be successfully implemented in the primary school development process, so that all students, including old and new minorities, can succeed in education. The symposium has the following main research question: ‘How can translanguaging strategies be adopted in primary school development processes, while responding to students’ diverse languages?´ Altogether, the roles, beliefs and practices of school principals, students, parents and teachers are elucidated. European perspectives and research prospects from Germany, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom on the intercultural opening process in primary schools will be examined in the four contributions.

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