This paper is concerned with a particular perspective on the approach to, and the encouragement of multilingualism in school and in class.

It is common knowledge that individual multilingualism and socially determined multilingualism greatly shape teaching and learning at schools in Europe. However, it is also well known that individual multilingualism and socially determined multilingualism have not been sufficiently acknowledged, approved and promoted.

Taking multilingualism in Austria as an example, we therefore address three main issues on ways of dealing with multilingualism in education.

Firstly, there is the question of how teacher trainees, and professional teachers experience and appreciate student multilingualism.

We also explore if and how teacher trainees, and professional teachers advance the multilingualism of the next generation in school and in the classroom, and if and how they seek orientation through curricula, specific pedagogical and didactical concepts and linguistic approaches.

Overall, we examine how teacher trainees, and professional teachers approach developmental tasks, how they execute them, and the results they achieve.

The general focus of our paper lies between the (conflicting) priorities of objective social demands and subjective concerns and developmental goals.

Our main concern is twofold: on the one hand, we outline the current approach to multilingualism in Austria, thus indicating trends in education policy and the concrete measures being implemented (Curriculum Mehrsprachigkeit); on the other hand, using a qualitative single-case study with specific emphasis on the analysis of interviews, we address the relevance of subject orientation and, specifically in this context, the fundamentals of research on learner development (Bildungsgangforschung).

In conclusion, we reflect on what can be done in schools and in the classroom to better accommodate individual and socially determined multilingualism in Austria, in Europe, and beyond.

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