Network
NW 07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education / NW 10. Teacher Education Research / Network 31. Led - Network on Language and Education
Title
Teacher education for the multilingual classroom: a social justice approach to linguistic and cultural diversity
Abstract
Linguistic diversity in European classrooms raises important questions about whose languages, identities, and knowledge are recognised and valued in education. This special call examines how teacher education can equip teachers to challenge linguistic inequalities and foster socially just practices in multilingual classrooms. We welcome research on preparing pre-service teachers for linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms, the practices they develop and implement, their attitudes towards multilingualism and translanguaging, and the broader structural and institutional conditions that shape pre-service teachers' practices.
The Call
Across Europe, classrooms are increasingly linguistically and culturally diverse. Yet, achievement and opportunity gaps (Flores, 2007; OECD, 2026) persist between pupils speaking languages other than the school language at home and their monolingual peers. Simultaneously, research shows that valuing and incorporating pupils’ home languages and cultures into education can benefit academic achievement and socio-affective development (García & Baetens Beardsmore, 2009; Sierens & Van Avermaet, 2014; Veerman et al., 2026).
However, education often remains based on monolingual ideologies positioning linguistic diversity as a problem rather than a resource for teaching and learning. Linguistic diversity can therefore become a basis for discrimination and educational inequality. From a social justice perspective, this raises fundamental questions about whose languages are legitimised in education, whose knowledge counts, and how teachers can contribute to challenging linguistic inequalities. Here, social justice is defined as a continuous endeavour to pinpoint and confront the historical, political, and structural causes of educational inequalities (Sleeter, 2015). It examines how unequal power dynamics influence access to opportunities and resources, and which languages, knowledge, and identities are valued in education. In this perspective, linguistic and cultural disparities are taken into account in relation to institutional norms and practices rather than being found in the alleged deficiencies of individual students or communities. Therefore, socially just teacher education seeks to improve teachers' critical awareness of systemic injustices and their ability to challenge them through pedagogies that recognise and value pupils’ linguistic and cultural resources (Festman et al., 2026; García et al., 2021; Hosseini et al., 2024).
Teacher education is therefore a crucial site for change. Teachers need opportunities to develop the knowledge, attitudes, and practical skills required to build on pupils’ linguistic and cultural resources. However, teacher education does not always adequately prepare student teachers for the linguistic realities they encounter in schools (OECD, 2025).
This joint Special Call brings together NW31: Language and Education, NW7: Social Justice and Intercultural Education, and NW10: Teacher Education to explore how teacher education can better prepare teachers for multilingual classrooms and contribute to more socially just education. We invite contributions that critically examine how multilingualism, multiculturalism and social justice can be integrated into teacher education. We particularly welcome research showing how multilingualism can be used as a resource in socially just education and how teachers can act as agents of change (a.o. Ziegler, 2013) in establishing inclusive and equitable multilingual education.
Contributions may address, for example:
- Addressing linguistic and cultural diversity in teacher education curricula and other aspects of the institutional frameworks;
- Broader structural and institutional conditions that shape pre-service teachers' beliefs and practices;
- How issues of language, identity, power and inequality can be addressed through teacher education;
- How social justice-oriented teacher education can empower teachers to address the unequal distribution of linguistic, cultural, and educational opportunities
We particularly encourage contributions that foreground the voices and experiences of student/beginning teachers, teacher educators, multilingual teachers, mentors and learners.
Papers submitted to this call will be considered for an Edited Volume in the EERA Book Series.
Contact Person(s)
Suzanne Dekker (NW31; sdekker(at)fryske-akademy.nl)
Joana Duarte (NW31; jduarte(at)rug.nl)
Julia Festman (NW31; julia.festman(at)ph-tirol.ac.at)
Sofia Almeida Santos (NW7; sofiasantos(at)fpce.up.pt)
Marita Conqvist (NW 10; marita.cronqvist(at)hb.se)
References
Festman, J., Jäger, F., & Reiter, C. (2026). Umfassende Sprachenbildung durch diversitätssensiblen Unterricht am Beispiel eines Unterrichtsprojekts zum Themenbereich Mein Zuhause. Didacticum, 9(1), 46–79.
Flores, A. (2007). Examining disparities in mathematics education. achievement gap or opportunity gap? High School Journal, 91(1):29–42. https://doi.org/10.1353/hsj.2007.0022.
Garcia, O. and Baetens Beardsmore, H. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century: a global perspective. Wiley-Blackwell.
Garcia, O., Flores, N., Seltzer, K.,Wei, L., Otheguy, R., and Rosa, J. (2021). Rejecting abyssal thinking in the language and education of racialized bilinguals: A manifesto. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 18(3):203–228.
Hosseini, N., Leijgraaf, M., Gaikhorst, L., & Volman, M. (2024). Practices of social justice-oriented teacher education: A review of the literature. Frontiers in Education, 9, Article 1432617. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1432617
OECD (2025), Results from TALIS 2024: The State of Teaching, TALIS, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/90df6235-en.
OECD (2026), PISA 2025 Results (Volume I): Future-Ready Students, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/73451bc5-en.
Sierens, S. and Van Avermaet, P. (2014). Language diversity in education: evolving from multilingual education to functional multilingual learning. In Little, D., Leung, C., and Van Avermaet, P., editors, Managing diversity in education: languages, policies, pedagogies, pages 204–222. Multilingual Matters. http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-4284796.
Sleeter, C. E. (2015). Deepening social justice teaching. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 42(6), 512–535.
Veerman, E., Danbury, E., Duarte, J., Volman, M., & Gaikhorst, L. (2026). A systematic review of empirical studies into multilingual pedagogies and their outcomes in primary education. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 47(4), 2419–2444. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2025.2472862
Ziegler, G. (2013). Multilingualism and the language education landscape: Challenges for teacher training in europe. Multilingual Education, 3(1):1–23.