1. Schools in the Netherlands and Flanders build an international learning network around dealing with multilingualism in PO. 2. Participants get to know new practices and methodologies, didactic work forms and inspiring ideas to dealing with multilingualism. 3.The conclusions are reported in an attractive way to share with other interested parties on a sustainable basis. 4. The results will be shared within the participating school organisations and more widely in the educational field and beyond via the networks of Erasmus+, Drongo, multilingualism.be and the City of Ghent. 5.The partners increase the quality and relevance of their work and develop a relevant international partner network.
The project was necessary because multilingualism of pupils in today's Flemish and Dutch educational practice is a factor with negative impact on equity and the social inclusion of pupils. More room for multilingualism has, we know from research, a positive effect on inclusion, school results, and equity, especially among children from multilingual backgrounds. It also promotes the acquisition of intercultural competences and contributes to global citizenship. Increasingly teachers have gained the insight that paying attention to multilingualism is an added value for all pupils and that it can help multilingual pupils to learn in a powerful(r) way, both in terms of subject content and in terms strengthening language skills in Dutch. However, teachers often do not know how to put this into practice, what methods, tools and approaches are available and which best fit the situation in their classroom or school. This was the focus of this project.