Abstract

Diversity - social, cultural, linguistic and ethnic - poses a challenge to all educational systems. Some authorities, schools and teachers look upon it as a problem, an obstacle to the achievement of national educational goals, while for others it offers new opportunities. Successive PISA reports have laid bare the relative lack of success in addressing the needs of diverse school populations and helping children develop the competences they need to succeed in society. The book is divided into three parts that deal in turn with policy and its implications, pedagogical practice, and responses to the challenge of diversity that go beyond the language of schooling. This volume features the latest research from eight different countries, and will appeal to anyone involved in the educational integration of immigrant children and adolescents.

This book makes a timely and important contribution to the educational field, with its rich and detailed picture of diversity in its many forms - cultural, social, ethnic and linguistic - and its compelling argument that such diversity be used as a resource to improve learning for all, to help develop the competences we need to function successfully in our increasingly globalised and rapidly changing world.

Drawing on a wide range of expected and unexpected contexts (from the US over Europe to Nepal) and qualitative and quantitative projects, this book scrutinizes failing educational policies and approaches the issue of the empowerment of multilingual children and their path to educational, linguistic and cultural equity. A challenging book for policy-makers and support for educators and researchers.

Linguistic diversity is a reality in classrooms all around the world. This volume shows an impressive picture of research, policies and praxis which take account of this challenge and support the transfer of plurilingual abilities into linguistic capital. It is an excellent overview for researchers as well as students, politicians and other experts in the field.

David Little is Fellow and Associate Professor Emeritus at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His recent publications include The Linguistic and Educational Integration of Children and Adolescents from Migrant Backgrounds (2010).

Constant Leung is a Professor of Educational Linguistics at King's College London, UK. His recent publications include English - A Changing Medium for Education (2012, edited with Brian Street).

Piet Van Avermaet is a Professor in the Linguistics Department, Ghent University, Belgium and Head of the Centre for Diversity & Learning, Ghent University. His research interests include diversity and social inequality in education, multilingual and multicultural education, and language and the integration of immigrants.