Promoting linguistic diversity and whole-school development

Abstract

The Council of Europe stresses the importance of societal multilingualism and of individual plurilingual competence as means to social cohesion. This publication is a result of the ECML project "Whole-school language profiles and policies" (Ensemble), which aimed to illustrate that everyone—school administrators, teachers, learners, parents, researchers, experts, and the community—must work together to foster plurilingualism. It presents case studies from various European contexts, grounded in research and practice, discussing contributions from partners such as parents, applied linguists, school principals, and teachers. The project consisted of three phases: understanding implications of language policy guides, identifying whole-school issues, and developing tools for plurilingual policies. It highlights whole-school development as key to promoting linguistic diversity, with examples from Malta, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Romania, Hungary, and Austria.