The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10.3 aims to “ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard” (United Nations, 2015) and SDG 4.5 aims to “(…) ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations” (ibid.). Despite this, language learning policies sometimes follow exclusionary practices, such as segregating students with beginning skills in the language of instruction (LoI), even though they are often referring to aim equal opportunities and inclusive education (Bunar & Juvonen, 2022; Hilt, 2017). These policies are released in the context of education, politics, and ideologies (Cross et al., 2022) and they are intended to be implemented by schools and teachers in the classroom in accordance with legal regulations (Cushing, 2023). However, language learning policies are subject to the interpretation of school leaders and teachers and can be influenced by school resources, ideologies, and other contextual factors (Bunar & Juvonen, 2022; Cushing, 2023). For example, German language support classes for students with beginning skills in the LoI in Austria are implemented in different ways from inclusive to segregated, which deviate to a greater or lesser extent from the current legal requirements (Schwab et al., 2023). In Sweden, teaching newly arrived students is more often based on the school's routines and school-specific solutions than on the student’s individual needs (Nilsson & Bunar, 2016). Therefore, the implementation of language learning policies is not always straightforward. The resources of the school, including personnel and spatial resources, and the interpretation of language learning policies by teachers, based on their ideologies, play a crucial role in ensuring that these policies are implemented effectively (Bunar & Juvonen, 2022; Cross et al., 2022; Cushing, 2023).

Noting the dependency of the implementation of language policies on the context and the responsible persons, the symposium aims to provide insights into the challenges and solutions of implementations of language learning policies for students with beginning skills in the LoI from a transnational perspective. Furthermore, the symposium will take into account a multilevel perspective with each contribution focusing on national, regional, and/or individual contexts of the implementation of language learning policies: the first contribution will examine the interaction of context and policy implementation at different organisational levels; the second contribution will emphasize public administrations as an interface between politics and schools and their regional peculiarities; the third contribution will analyse teachers’ different understanding of the implementation of language policies in a specific region.

The symposium comprises three contributions that address the issue of second language learning policies in educational research. The first contribution analyses the extent to which contextual factors and language learning policies affect the integration or segregation of students with beginning skills in the LoI in the US. The second contribution investigates the feasibility, effectiveness, and legitimacy of German language support policies for students with beginning skills in the LoI from the perspective of employees in public administrations operating in different Austrian federal states. Finally, the third contribution focuses on how Norwegian teachers estimate the inclusion process of students with beginning skills in the LoI in upper secondary schools framed by educational policies. Overall, the results presented in this symposium will aid in the ongoing discussions about second language learning policies in educational research.

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