Article published In: Teachers’ Plurilingual Identities in Transnational Contexts
Edited by Clea Schmidt and Antoinette Gagné
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 38:3] 2015
► pp. 155–171
A framework for inclusion
Plurilingual teachers in day and community schools
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
Published online: 1 January 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.38.3.05cru
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.38.3.05cru
Linguistic and cultural diversity is becoming a feature of the teaching profession in OECD countries with the increase in global migration and mobility (Reid, Collins & Singh, 2014). Plurilinguali teachers, however, tend to experience marginalisation in terms of gaining employment and in their workplace experiences. Although there is a body of research into the ex/inclusion of plurilingual teachers at the systemic/policy level and individual level, there is a gap in what is known about the school factors. The ways that plurilingual teachers are positioned and position themselves vary across sites. This paper draws on teacher interview data in community languages and day schools to explore the factors which determine the value attached to plurilingual teachers’ work and the skills they bring to their teaching. The key features include the extent to which cultural/linguistic diversity in incorporated in school curriculum, the impact and role of community participation in the school and the focus on and support for appropriate pedagogies and teacher professional development.
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