International research shows that employing culturally responsive pedagogy in the classroom increases academic performance among students whose first language or cultural background is different from the school's main language and culture of instruction (Gay, 2018; Piller, 2017; Nieto, 2018; Teräs, 2019). However, teachers often lack competence regarding students' linguistic and cultural backgrounds, as well as adequate methods to adapt teaching to students who come from backgrounds different from the majority population. In this study, we focus on teachers in vocational education and training (VET) and their knowledge of culturally and linguistically responsive teaching, in encounters with multilingual student populations. In VET programs, students do not only need to learn the language of instruction, but also the language of the profession they will be working in later. Both in Norway and internationally, a dual language-subject process has been more widespread in more academically oriented topics than in VET (Gibbons, 2006).

In Norway, there has been limited research on teachers' culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy (Vikøy & Haukås, 2021), and to our knowledge only one study on language practices by teachers in vocational programs (Andersen, 2023) although there is an increasing number of students with immigrant backgrounds in vocational programs compared to general studies in upper secondary school (Vikøy and Haukås, 2021).

There is no central European statistic about the number of students with immigrant(-language) background in VET programs across Europe. However, several studies indicate that there are proportionally more students with immigrant backgrounds in VET programs in different European countries (i.e., Carlana, et al., 2022; Alhanachi, et al., 2021), although the focus of these studies is not necessarily about language. Furthermore, Jørgensen, Hautz and Li (2021) outline opportunities and barriers for students with migrant backgrounds in Denmark, Austria and Germany, highlighting language training and language competences as barriers for inclusion in VET programs.

Moreover, some research from other countries, i.e., Finland and The Netherlands (i.e., Mustonen & Strömmer, 2022; Van Batenburg & Dale, 2024) show that there is an increasing interest for understanding multilingual language practices in VET programs across (Western) Europe.

In the Nordic education policy, it has been an increasing presence of “multilingualism as a resource”, but bringing such policies into practice is rarely simple and straightforward (Andersen, 2023; 2024). An increasing number of students with a minority language background in vocational programs across Europe makes knowledge about culturally responsive teaching highly relevant for today’s teachers. There is a need to understand the current practice to develop best practices for teaching and learning in multilingual VET classrooms.

Previous research on continuous professional development programs for in-service teachers show that focusing on how to work in diverse, multilingual classrooms raise teachers’ awareness about multilingual topics, but it does not translate into concrete teaching strategies (Lødding, Rønsen & Wollscheid, 2018).

In our view, the complexity of learning and teaching a second language and vocational subjects needs further research. The understandings of interculturality and multilingual matters in relation to teachers’ competences continue to develop (Byram, 2021), but so far, the focus on multilingual teaching and learning in VET settings is lacking.

In this presentation, we will answer the main research question What do vocational education teachers know about the organization of Norwegian as a second language (NSL) and linguistic diversity in their schools? Furthermore, we will address two sub-questions about how the teachers and/or schools assess the language skills and level of their pupils, and finally how the teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism and language learning relate to their culturally responsive pedagogy and the linguistic diversity in the schools.

An online survey was distributed to teachers in vocational education schools (upper secondary school) nationwide in Norway. This survey was a translated and adapted version of similar survey from Finland (Allisari, et al., 2021) asking questions about teachers’ experiences, beliefs and practices in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. The survey was available between the fall 2023 and the spring of 2024. Invitations were sent directly to schools (259 schools) and via interest groups for upper secondary school teachers (i.e., social media). A survey was deemed more appropriate than interviews, because we intended to investigate national similarities and differences regarding the organization of Norwegian as a second language. The questionnaire consisted of open-ended and likert-scale type questions about the teachers’ knowledge about the multilingual pupils’ language background, assessment of language skills, their practices in multilingual classrooms, and their knowledge of Norwegian as a second language as a course in their own school. 118 people started the survey, but 3 did not consent to data collection, and one person worked in a higher education institution. Data was analyzed from 114 upper secondary school teachers. The respondents belong to all 10 vocational strands that are offered in Norwegian upper secondary school, in addition to general subjects. Despite the nationwide reach, most respondents were from the South or South-East parts of Norway. In the current presentation, we focus on the responses related to the themes of organization of Norwegian as a second language, and second language teaching in general. Open-ended questions were analyzed both through content analysis as well as a critical discourse analysis. Responses to the closed questions are presented descriptively due to the low response rate.

There was a low response rate to this survey. However, the responses to the open-ended questions provide valuable information about the teachers’ experiences with teaching multilingual students and developing diversity sensitive pedagogy. Our preliminary results show that there has been a rise in the number of multilingual pupils in the schools during the last 3-5 years. Very few teachers indicate that they have had any training in second language pedagogy, linguistically responsive teaching and multilingualism, despite teaching in highly multilingual classrooms. 40% of the respondents indicate that they do not know how the classes in Norwegian as a second language are organized in their schools (RQ1). The respondents indicate that there is a lack of resources (monetary and time) to organize good diversity-sensitive pedagogy. Teachers indicate that there are pupils in their school who could have benefitted from special Norwegian education who do not get this type of instruction. The reasons for this are both that the students do not wish to take part in this kind of instruction, but also because of lack of resources in the schools. The results from this study will add to the growing body of research about teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about multilingual education.

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