Bilingual and Multicultural Education: Current Trends and Future Directions

Dear Colleagues,

Growing polarization, persistent discrimination, and social tensions in many societies highlight that education still faces major challenges in addressing diversity. Although inclusion and equity have received increasing attention over recent decades, recent developments show that their value is not universally recognized. This calls for renewed focus on how schools conceptualize and enact diversity, particularly within multicultural and multilingual contexts. Examining how such approaches shape students’ social belonging and learning experiences is crucial for understanding how education can contribute to more inclusive societies.

This Special Issue seeks to advance understanding of the role of the school context in (bi- and) multilingual and multicultural educational settings in shaping young people’s experiences of inclusion and equity, and its outcomes. To this end, we invite submissions that address:

• The attitudes and mindset of relevant actors in the broader school context: school leaders, teachers, parents and youth;
• Research on established bilingual and multicultural approaches or practices as well as new ways to incorporate diversity in the school context (e.g., AI-based, arts- or drama-based and visual approaches);
• Diversity (MC/ML) experiences in school in relation to students’ thinking about equality and inclusion, privilege, positionality;
• Formative and summative forms of assessment in bilingual and multicultural school contexts;
• Cross-subject or interdisciplinary approaches in bilingual and multicultural education.

Reflecting the complexity of contemporary societies, this Special Issue adopts a broad diversity lens (or a broad definition of language and culture) by including studies that address a wide range of diversity aspects, such as ethnicity, race, socio-economic background, language, neurodiversity, sexuality, and religion. In terms of methodology, we welcome both quantitative and qualitative approaches, including participatory research designs.

Prof. Dr. Joana Da Silveira Duarte
Dr. Anke Munniksma
Guest Editors

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