Foreword by Professor Ester de Jong

Introduction

PART 1: Policy

1 Multilingualism and Diversity in Northern Ireland Schools and Teacher Education

2 Multilingualism as a Resource: Policy Changes in Finnish Education

PART 2: Perspectives

3 Finnish teachers’ perspectives about linguistic and cultural diversity

4 Content Teacher Ideologies and Perspectives on Multilingual Learners

PART 3: Preparation

5 Mediating Theory & Practice for Multilingual Learners in Initial Teacher Education in England

6 Pre-Service Teachers´ Competency Development and Opportunities to Learn in Teaching Multilingual Learners in Germany

PART 4: Practice

7 Mainstream Teachers for Successful Multilingual Classrooms: The Case of a School

that Embraced a Genre-based Pedagogy to Teach Writing

8 Teachers’ professional learning and practice with multilingual Pacific/Pasifikalearners in Aotearoa New Zealand

Conclusion

This book brings together research from six different countries across three continents where teacher educators and policy makers are addressing the under-preparation of content teachers to work effectively with multilingual learners. By highlighting this relatively young field of research at an international level, the book advances the research-based knowledge of the field and promotes international research relationships and partnerships to better support the education of multilingual learners and their teachers.

The chapters represent high-quality empirical qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies about pre-service and in-service teachers. Comprising four sections, each represents a critical aspect of the equitable teaching of multilingual learners. All the research was conducted in countries that belong to OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) enabling the reader to compare contexts and outcomes.

This book will be of particular interest to academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of language education, teacher education, and education for multilingual learners. It will be of great value to anyone concerned with equity and social justice for multilingual learners whose languages, cultural practices, and resources are often overlooked and/or marginalized in the schools they attend.