Bilingualism and Multilingualism in Secondary Education (England)

This article explores the current challenges in England in relation to the bilingual and multilingual provision in state-funded secondary schools. It reviews some recent research on the perceived benefits of bi/multilingualism as well as attitudes towards students whose linguistic backgrounds are different from English. The article also explores the aspirations of migrant families who feel very strongly for their children to learn English at the expense of their own mother tongues. Finally, there is an overview of how teaching training programmes prepare both pre-service and in-service teachers to work with students who, in the past, were perceived to be deficient as they were seen to be lacking in an ability to communicate in the language of the majority. Whilst attitudes are changing, there is some considerable work to do with teachers so that they can fully acknowledge the rich linguistic capital that bi/multilingual students bring to the classroom.