In the country of Luxembourg with its three official languages Luxembourgish, German and French, multilingualism is of special importance. The education system is based on a trilingual approach, starting with Luxembourgish as the language of instruction in Cycle 1, which corresponds to pre-school classes. In Cycle 2 (6- to 7-year-olds), German is the language of alphabetization and instruction, supplemented by French lessons in the oral use (7-year-olds) and in written language (8-year-olds). In addition, the schoolchildren speak multiple family languages as the country of Luxembourg has the highest percentage of schoolchildren with migration background within the EU (STATEC, 2020). Considering this special situation in the Luxembourgish school system, language has a high impact on the children’s participation and competence development in all subjects, but especially in MINT learning (Andersen, 2020). The results of the PISA studies show that Luxembourgish pupils with a migrant background have particular difficulties in acquiring sufficient competences in mathematics and science if none of the three school languages is their mother tongue (SCRIPT & EMACS, 2014; Ugen & Fischbach, 2017). This impedes their access to educational options and higher levels of schooling. Proceeding from these considerations, we see inclusion in a very wide conception that is not limited to those pupils with special needs or disabilities, for example, those with visual and hearing impairments, restricted movement and/or learning difficulties. Inclusion, however, also applies to all those children who are at risk of marginalisation or underachievement because of their language competences. This presentation focuses on materials in the subject mathematics that are used in inclusive settings at primary school in Luxembourg. Along the material “Einstern”, we show what challenges the multilingual children are facing in the use of this material and what kind of tasks the schoolchildren are working on when using the “Einstern” material. This presentation critically analyses selected tasks, including exemplary tasks that show potential for the support of the children’s inclusion, but also reflecting on tasks that may hinder inclusion for language reasons.

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