Migrants in European schools : learning and maintaining languages : thematic report from a programme of expert workshops and peer learning activities (2016-17)

Supporting newly arrived migrant children to master the language of schooling alongside maintaining and further developing their personal linguistic repertoire is key for their successful reception and integration, as well as successful teaching. Unlike their native peers, newly arrived pupils often have complicated, multi-country trajectories behind them and have accumulated varied levels of proficiency in multiple languages. This linguistic diversity is a rich and often unexploited source of social and cultural capital. At the same time, however, acquiring the language of schooling is not only key for education, but also for the labour market and wider society. This presents a conundrum as to how best to recognise social and linguistic difference as an asset within Europe's schools, while helping migrant children to thrive and become active citizens by learning the language of schooling.