New developments: multilingual teaching practices
On September 4th, 2025, the Dutch Education Council issued a clear recommendation: make better use of linguistic diversity in education. School leaders and the government are being called upon to invest in the support, training, and continued professional development of teachers. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is working on a framework for education for newcomer students.
The message from the Education Council is clear: education will improve when students’ home languages are employed in the classroom. For multilingual children, this is good news. Research shows that drawing on knowledge in and from other languages offers several benefits.
First of all, it makes learning Dutch easier, as students can build connections with a language they are more fluent in already. It also grants more access to the curriculum: when a student is allowed to use their home language, for example by looking up a translation, they understand more quickly what’s asked of them in the first place. Furthermore, it supports knowledge processing: students can discuss with a language buddy or first write a text in their home language before translating it into Dutch.
In May 2025, the Ministry also announced its plans to develop a structural framework for newcomer education. Currently, education for newcomers is not covered under special legislation and still falls under the regular education system. However, teaching a newcomer requires different strategies than teaching a student born in the Netherlands who speaks Dutch at home. Studies indicate that many schools lack clear guidelines and have a strong need for expertise.
We hope education continues to evolve toward a more inclusive environment. One that sees linguistic and cultural diversity not as a challenge, but as a source of enrichment.
-Lianne Stolte | PhD researcher, subproject ‘School’.
Currently, this blog is only available in English and Dutch. To read it in another language we recommend using the translation tool DeepL.com.
