SIRIUS Watch: Strengthening Language Support and Multilingual Education

Across Europe, increasing linguistic and cultural diversity in schools has intensified the need not only for comprehensive education policies, but for their consistent and effective implementation. This report examines approaches to comprehensive language support and teacher preparation in 16 selected European education systems, with particular attention to policies that strengthen both the language of instruction and learners’ first or family languages. Building on previous SIRIUS work, this report focuses on both policies and their implementation, examining how they operate in practice across education systems. 

The findings show that most assessed education systems recognise the importance of strengthening proficiency in the language of instruction. Therefore, several education systems, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain (Catalonia), have established frameworks for language support, including preparatory classes, additional language instruction, and targeted programmes for newly arrived students. However, in practice, the availability, duration, and quality of such support vary significantly across regions, schools, and student groups, often depending on local capacity rather than guaranteed national entitlements. 

The report also highlights that, while policy discourse increasingly recognises the value of linguistic diversity, structured support for migrant learners’ first or family languages remains limited, fragmented, and often dependent on extracurricular or project-based initiatives. In most countries, support for these languages is optional, extracurricular, or dependent on local initiatives rather than integrated into mainstream education systems. Yet maintaining and developing first languages is widely recognised as beneficial for cognitive development, identity formation, well-being, and the acquisition of additional languages.

A shortage of qualified language teachers continues to affect the quality and sustainability of language support programmes, and teacher preparation for multilingual classrooms remains uneven. Training in second-language pedagogy, multilingual education, and intercultural competence is frequently optional rather than systematically embedded in teacher education programmes. 

Overall, the findings suggest that while European education systems increasingly acknowledge the importance of inclusive and multilingual education, stronger institutionalisation of language support policies, teacher training, integration of migrants into the teaching workforce, and recognition of linguistic diversity is required to ensure equitable educational opportunities for migrants and migrant learners across Europe.