The primary objective of this project was to address a significant societal challenge faced by subject teachers working in plurilingual classrooms where the language of instruction is the majority language. Specifically, our aim was to bridge the gap in higher education teacher training by providing equitable access to high-quality, university-level courses for both pre-service and in-service educators. Through international cooperation, we set out to collaboratively design and implement two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) available in four languages, English, Polish, German and Spanish. These courses are intended to offer accessible, research-informed professional development, culminating in international certification upon completion. By doing so, we sought to support formal and non-formal, self-guided learning opportunities and empower teachers with the knowledge and practical strategies necessary to effectively teach in multilingual and diverse classroom settings.
We applied for this project in response to a pressing and growing need among future and current primary and secondary school teachers across Europe who are increasingly working with refugee and multilingual learners in mainstream classrooms. These teachers often lack the necessary support and resources to effectively integrate language, literacy, and subject content in their teaching—a challenge that is becoming more urgent given current migration patterns and the increasing diversity of European classrooms. Many teacher training institutions struggle to keep up with the demand for updated, research-based professional development, especially in formats accessible to both pre- and in-service teachers. Our project directly addresses this gap by leveraging the combined expertise of three partner universities with a long-standing commitment to social responsibility and inclusive education. Through the co-design and delivery of open-access digital learning resources (MOOCs), we intended to equip educators across Europe with the tools and understanding necessary to support all learners in multilingual, mixed-ability classrooms.