Theoretical background: Migration-related multilingualism is an international phenomenon of societal changes (Spring, 2014) and is mirrowed in the multilingual student body in primary schools in Germany (Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung, 2020). Particularly since the refugee and migration movements in 2015, multilingualism and dealing with it in the school context is a highly prominent political and normative topic in Germany, just as in other European countries. Dealing with this great linguistic diversity in teaching multilingual learning groups is an important part of the professional activity of primary teachers in Germany, placing high demands on their occupational professionalism. Teachers with supportive beliefs regarding the integration of the various first languages of their students into teaching tend to perceive migration-related multilingualism as a ‘potential resource’ and at least temporarily provide more space in teaching (Lange and Pohlmann-Rother, 2020). At the teaching level, therefore, the beliefs towards leveraging multilingualism in teaching play an important role as a competence facet of pedagogical professionalism (Bailey and Marsden, 2017). Regarding the professionalisation of (prospective) primary teachers, the question arises as to what influencing factors can encourage supportive beliefs towards multilingualism.

The participation in formal learning opportunities on how to leverage multilingualism in teaching is a potential influencing factor in both pre-service teacher training and professional practice. According to Kunter et al. (2011), formal learning opportunities are institutionalised teaching-learning arrangements, offered by formally recognised educational institutions. Formal learning opportunities in pre-service training, thus, refer to teaching-learning contexts e.g. universities, in which prospective teachers participate as part of their formal training, to prepare for their profession. Formal learning opportunities in professional practice include in-service learning opportunities (Richter, 2011). In professional practice, teachers’ experiences of contact with multilingual students can also be a relevant influencing factor (Lucas, Villegas, and Martin, 2015). In addition, the establishment and existence of a heterogeneity-sensitive school programme at a school can be seen as a potential influencing factor for the teachers’ professional practice (Edelmann, 2008). The term ‘school programme’ refers to school organisational matters, e.g. the establishment of a mission statement and a canon of values regarding a supportive working with heterogeneity at school, which represents a binding framework for school development processes (Schratz, 2009).

Research Questions: Based on data from the ‘BLUME-study’ (Lange and Pohlmann-Rother, 2020), the aim of the presented study is to analyse theoretically relevant influencing factors in the context of teacher professionalisation, focussing on in-service primary teachers’ beliefs regarding multilingualism in teaching. Thereby, learning opportunities regarding how to leverage multilingualism in teaching, such as formal training at university and further training during professional practice, are analysed. GSL modules that aim to prepare prospective or in-service teachers for teaching multilingual student groups or for giving them linguistic support are also taken into consideration. At the teaching level, contact experiences with multilingual students are analysed as influencing factors within the phase of professional practice. At school level, it is of interest whether working in a school with a language-sensitive school programme makes a difference with regard to the teachers’ beliefs on multilingualism.

Question 1: How does the amount of training in ‘German as a Second Language (GSL)’ influence the teachers’ beliefs towards leveraging multilingualism in teaching?

Question 2: How does the content-related breadth of topics in in-service training courses on ‘German as a Second Language (GSL)’ influence the teachers’ beliefs towards leveraging multilingualism in teaching?

Question 3: How do contact experiences with multilingual students in teaching relate to primary teachers’ beliefs towards leveraging multilingualism in teaching?

Question 4: What influence does a language-sensitive school programme have on teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism in teaching?

To answer the research questions, we analyse data from the BLUME-study (Lange and Pohlmann-Rother, 2020). The BLUME-study collected data from in-service primary teachers (N=123) in the summer of 2018 in a school district in southern Germany using an online questionnaire. Questions were asked regarding beliefs on multilingualism in teaching and experiences in working with multilingualism, contextual information and demographic characteristics of the teachers. The questionnaire was first piloted with cognitive pretest interviews (Willis, 2005) (N=12). The two criteria for sampling were current employment as a primary teacher and being a class teacher. Since a complete case analysis is carried out, the number of cases is 95 teachers. The sample mainly consists of female teachers (91%). The primary teachers are on average 42 years old and had been in service as teachers at primary schools for on average 15.24 years at the time of the survey. For the dependent variable, an index consisting of four scales considering beliefs towards leveraging first languages in teaching, teaching multilingual students in regular classes, the responsibility for language development in teaching and enthusiasm for teaching students with ‘German as a Second Language’ was formed. The index was used to cover various dimensions that are significant for the beliefs of primary teachers with regard to leveraging multilingualism in teaching based on a theoretical model of Fischer (2018). The overall index formed has a scale of one (‘disagree fully’) to six (‘agree fully’). The Cronbach’s alpha is 0.79, the index has a high internal consistency. The data was analysed in Stata (16) using multivariate linear regression. A linear regression model was used to analyse the extent to which the teachers’ beliefs are influenced: (a) by participating in learning opportunities on ‘German as a Second Language (GSL)’ in teacher training; (b) through experiences with multilingual students in teaching; (c) by participating in training on multilingualism in professional practice; and (d) by undertaking language-sensitive school programmes.

The results show that the use of learning opportunities on the topic of ‘GSL’ in pre-service training and in in-service training as well as the positive evaluation of contact experiences in teaching lead to supportive beliefs towards multilingualism (Pohlmann-Rother, Lange, Zapfe & Then, 2021). Teachers who spent a lot of time compared to the ones who invest little time on pre-service training in GSL (b=0.985*) have more supportive beliefs regarding multilingualism in teaching. Also, the analysis showed that participation in in-service training with GSLtopics leads to more supportive beliefs. The wider the topics addressed in the in-service trainings on GSL, the more supportive the teachers’ beliefs are on multilingualism in teaching (b=0.338***). In contrast, teaching experience with multilingual students does not have a significant influence on the teachers’ beliefs. Considering the perceived quality of contact experience, the evaluation of teaching contact experiences with multilingualism shows that teachers who rate their experiences positively have b=0.640** points more supportive beliefs towards multilingualism in teaching than those with a negative rating. Whereas the coefficient of language-sensitive school programme is not significant. The six independent variables considered in the model can explain 39.33% of the variance in teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism in teaching. The task to qualify primary school teachers to deal with multilingual heterogeneity in a resource-oriented manner is a European-wide challenge. The results are compared and discussed with reference to the European and international state of research. Lucas, Villegas, and Martin (2015), for example, outline in their international literature review on research similar relationships between experiences and teacher beliefs. Besides consideration in terms of local specifications in Germany, the results can offer optimistic reference points in a broader prespective that investment in pre-service and in in-service teacher training structures can pay off when it comes to teacher beliefs on multilingualism.

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