Multi-STEM is a research project that aims to promote the participation of multilingual children in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.
Subprojects
Children with a migration background can encounter obstacles in Dutch education.
Developing multilingual strategies for STEM education
Multi-STEM wants to ensure that multilingual children feel seen and heard, and that they can fully participate in education.
Multilingual children possess knowledge and skills in their home language that are lost in a monolingual Dutch environment.
That’s why Multi-STEM is developing an approach where both Dutch and home languages can be used.
Allowing a child to use all of their languages not only improves school performance, but also ensures that the child feels seen and involved.
Recent Blog Posts
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Utilising linguistic diversity in the classroom
The multitude of languages spoken by pupils at home contains a wealth of knowledge. Schools could make better use of this. That’s the advice of the Dutch Education Council. But how can school go about this? Jantien Smit, lecturer in Multilingualism and Education at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and co-project leader of Multi-STEM, gives…
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Use home languages in the classroom
Last week, the Dutch Education Council gave new advice: make use of all the languages children bring to school. One way to follow that advice is through translanguaging. Based on recent research, scientists at Utrecht University describe seven practical ways teachers can do this. ‘Translanguaging gives multilingual children a better grasp of the subject matter…
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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…
