Chapter 9: Recommendations

Abstract

schooling to be able to achievet heirf ull potential.It has also highlighted the additional benefits that can be accrued from the inclusion of the full linguistic repertoire of pupils in the learningprocess,and the maintenanceoftheir home language, where relevant, as av aluable means of personal expression and learning, and for the wider social potential this offers.In these ways, we haveargued that education and schooling are inextricably linked to society and are not neutral, which leads to aneed for all teachers to play an activerole in educating young peopletobecomemembersofademocratic, multilingual society that values and respects diversityinall its shapes and forms.This includes the linguistic, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity broughtinto schools through migrationw ith the additional challenges that this brings.All teachers can also help to build an inclusivee ducational environmenti nE U member state schools for children and adolescents in amigrant or refugee situation, whose education has often been interrupted (Council of Europe 2007, 2010, 2011;Dovigo 2018; Koehler & Schneider 2019).As we haveargued, for this to occur, there needs to be af undamental change in the mind-set of many practitioners,intermsofmoving away from the dominantvalues and beliefs of the society they serve, where diversity is not necessarily viewedasanasset, as well as the development of new pedagogical understandings and skills (for adetailed discussion see e. g. Mary & Young 2020).T eacher education and professional development are therefore paramount to enhancingt he critical agency of teachers in this area, which is key to reducing prejudices and social inequality (Kirsch 2020).In support of theseeducational goals, we offerteacher educators, teachers, and all relevant stakeholders the following nine recommendations which can help them to better supportthe holistic development of all pupils in the multilingual school environment, in recognition of their diverse cognitive, emotional, linguistic and social needs. 17This is with av iew to building as olid and broad foundation for citizenship, lifelong learning and wellbeing going forward. 1. Adopt amultilingual culture and ethos; 2. Embrace awhole-school approach; 3. Create an inclusivecurriculum; 4. Implement multilingualapproaches to teaching; 5. Embrace alanguage-sensitive teaching approach; 6. Assess and address pupils' needs; 7. Foster apositiveand supportivelearning environment; 8. Develop home-school partnerships from the start; 9. Provide ongoingprofessional training.