Overview

Since the 1950s a compelling body of evidence has been accumulated to demonstrate that educating children in their mother languages in school leads to better educational and social outcomes, including better and faster learning of the main language of host countries.

Yet, multilingual curricula, leveraging the benefits of mother tongue support, are few and far between.

Instead emphasis has been placed on ensuring that migrant children master the official language to the detriment of their home languages. As a result, there continues to be a large gap between the educational achievements of migrant children, both first and second generation, and those of their native peers.

The fact is that multilingual classrooms are the reality today, especially in urban areas. New approaches have emerged across Europe which demonstrate that it is entirely feasible to overcome the practical challenges to mother tongue-based multilingual education that are often highlighted as show stoppers.

With exciting results: students’ self-confidence grows, they remain interested in learning, they develop multilingual abilities, stay in school longer, and stand a greater chance of fulfilling their educational potential. Enabling them to make greater contributions to the societies in which they live.

On 6 November 2015, the Rutu Foundation with the University Utrecht organized a Roundtable on Multilingual Education for Migrant Children in Europe.

Read the report.

Background reading: What is mother tongue education?

Aims

The Rutu Roundtable was organized to bring together policy-makers, researchers, practitioners, donor agencies and other stakeholders from around Europe to share new approaches and discuss the opportunities and barriers to introducing mother tongue based multilingual education for migrant children in Europe.

The Roundtable served also as the starting point for a new collaboration between the Rutu Foundation, Utrecht University and the Teacher Training Institute of Suriname (CPI) on strengthening teacher competences in multilingual education and cultural diversity.

During the day the Rutu Foundation shared its new five year strategic plan (the Rutu Roadmap) for advancing mother tongue based education in Europe and beyond.

Participants

AVB Translations

Christian Teacher Training Institute (CPI) Suriname

De Taalstudio

New International School Esprit (DENISE)

Dutch Education Worldwide (NOB)

European Commission

Friesland Province

Kohnstamm Instituut

Language Center City of Gothenburg

Lifelong Inspiration

MAD (Mothers Against Discrimination)

Manz Legal

Nik-Nak multilingual books

PvdA (Labour Party Netherlands)

Rubia Dutch Conversation

Teachers College Windesheim Flevoland

Tilburg University

Triodos Foundation

University Malmo

University of Leuven

Utrecht City Council

Utrecht University

University of Applied Sciences Utrecht

VVOB (Flemish Association for Development Cooperation)

Presentations

THE RUTU ROADMAP
Ellen-Rose Kambel, Rutu Foundation
Rahzeb Choudhury, Lifelong Inspiration

LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING IN MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS
Ana-Maria Stan, European Commission

REINVENTING THE CLASSROOM: THE CHALLENGE OF A GLOBALIZED EUROPE
Emmanuelle Le Pichon, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

DEVELOPING RESOURCES FOR MULTILINGUAL CLASSES IN BELGIUM
Orhan Agirdag, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands/University of Leuven, Belgium

LANGUAGE POLICY FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN IN SWEDEN
Amor Segerhammar and Ann-Charlotte Karnermo, Language Center, Gothenburg, Sweden

HOW CAN WE PROFIT FROM MULTILINGUALISM? GOOD PRACTICES FROM THE EU-LUCIDE PROJECT
Jacomine Nortier, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

MULTILINGUALISM IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR
Joël Sigling, AVB Translations, The Netherlands

MULTILINGUALISM IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR (video)
Akin Alan, Manz Legal, Utrecht, The Netherlands