Leveraging Home Languages
More than 40 language and vocational teachers across six colleges at ROC midden Nederland are participating in a professional development programme on leveraging linguistic diversity. Based on this training, they will develop and test multilingual approaches to their teaching. In doing so, they aim to contribute to students' reading and writing development while exploring the potential of multilingualism as a learning resource.
Goal
The project has two objectives. Through the lectorate, we support language and vocational teachers in developing expertise in multilingualism and in collaboratively designing, implementing, and refining educational interventions. In addition, a team of researchers led by the Kohnstamm Institute is investigating the impact of these interventions on the reading and writing skills of VET students. See the link about using home languages in Dutch vocational education (VET) to enhance reading and writing skills; http://kohnstamminstituut.nl/benutten-van-thuistalen-in-het-mbo-om-lees-en-schrijfvaardigheid-te-bevorderen/.
Results
The project will contribute to teachers' professional development, generate transferable interventions, and provide insights into the implementation and impact of multilingual pedagogies on students’ language development.
Revenues
The project aims to develop practical classroom activities and intervention guides that support teachers in leveraging multilingualism in the classroom. In addition, the project will produce a research report, a professional publication, and a conference presentation to share the approach, experiences, emerging findings, and lessons learned.
Approach
Teachers collaborate in sector-specific Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), supported by the research group. Together, they design impactful multilingual interventions tailored to their own educational contexts. These interventions will be immediately implemented, evaluated, and further refined based on experiences and outcomes.
Impact on education or professional practice
Through this project, we strengthen language-aware education in which multilingualism has a natural and valued place. In doing so, we support students’ language development, participation, and academic success. By actively sharing knowledge, interventions, and practical examples, we aim to contribute knowledge development and quality improvement across the wider vocational education and training (VET) community.
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Contribution to SDG's
This project contributes to SDG 4 Quality Education and SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities.
Cooperation
Financed by NKO.
