Teacher training aspects

The basis of effective multilingual-multicultural education at school is the related teacher training. Similarly to bilingual education typologies multicultural teacher education (MTE) can also fall into different categories from among which a modern division will be

53 shown here. Gorski (2009), on the basis of conservative, liberal and critical multiculturalism offers an extended version that connects the previous labels with MTE (Figure 14):

Approaches Objectives

Traditional by Gorski

Conservative I. Teaching the “Other” To prepare teachers to work effectively with a diverse student population by studying the cultures, values, lifestyles, and worldviews of individual identity groups and how to assimilate them into the education system Liberal II. Teaching with Cultural Sensitivity

and Tolerance

To prepare teachers to tolerate differences and to be aware of and sensitive to diversity, particularly through an examination of personal biases and prejudices

Critical IV. Teaching in Socio-political Context To engage teachers in a critical examination of the systematic influences of power, oppression, dominance, inequity, and injustice described under “teaching in Socio-political Context” and through studying strategies for, and engaging in, counter-hegemonic teaching and social activism

Figure 14. Approaches to multicultural teacher education based on Gorski (Gorski, 2009; p. 312)

Although the original table contains more elements (e.g. Contextualising frameworks and Course organisation) for our research the most important is to see the approaches and their objectives in teacher training. The categories are sharply divided but while examining the educational strategies of the kindergarten in Pápa, it will be realised that they cannot be

54 separated as easily as it has been done for the sake of theoretic identification. The categories will overlap and for good reasons. The problem of putting the theory into practice often arises in MTE as it has been noticed by Schoorman  Bogotch according to whom it is worth working harder “to integrate valuable theory of multicultural education with the practical realities of teachers and administrators” (2010, p. 1047). Besides revisiting theory in order to make it applicable they also urge to extend multicultural education in teacher training in general instead of leaving it in a confined state as if it were the matter of each school separately.

Multilingualism and multiculturalism, as Ziegler (2013) clearly recognises in her recent study means new tasks not only in school education but also in teacher training. She suggests leaving behind the traditional method of teaching languages “one after another”

(2013; p. 2) by creating a more multicultural setting to language learning. Obviously, it is impossible to do it without changes in teacher training, which is a very complex issue. First of all, both teachers and stakeholders should be involved in the identification of demands and strategies. As language teachers are in a key position regarding multicultural education, their curriculum should be changed above all. Language teachers’ central position is supported by the assumption that language teachers are those who, besides the actual teaching of a language, are expected to deal with the cultural, political and historical background of the target language. If this theory is accepted, it may be concluded that language educators are those who use a language with a double function, i.e. as a possible outcome of language studies and also as a tool for cultural and social understanding in a given society. From this point it is easy to see that in order to make an achievement in language teacher education, it is essential to know what topics teachers find relevant in a new type of education, where multiculturalism is a central issue of the teaching routine. The diagram underneath (Figure 15) shows the result of the survey about the important themes of language teacher education according to the priorities of the interviewed teachers:

55 Figure 15. Rating of important topics in multicultural teacher education

(Ziegler, 2013; p. 22)

If a closer look is taken at the first six most important topics, it can be stated that, although the most relevant theme is a general one (training for better language competence), the need for intercultural and multicultural education is a hot issue in modern European language teaching. It is, however, surprising that early language development, among others, has been regarded as a priority of language learning for a decade in the European Union (cf.

Action plan on language learning and linguistic diversity, 2003), yet it does not appear on this list by Ziegler (2013), which can be the gap of the survey from our research point. It shows the underrepresentation of this segment of education, which should be corrected as multiculturalism does appear with families with young children, thus in pre-school education as well.

Another thought-provoking result of the previous study (Ziegler, 2013) is the point of the identity of language teachers who, before finding and creating their professional approach to multiculturalism, should define their own identity and their role in the paradigmatic change

56 of teacher education. Its necessity is underpinned by other researchers (Vámos, 2003; Lazar, 2004; Nikitina  Furuoka, 2008; Trentinné, 2008) who try to find metaphors for language teaching and language teachers highlighting the core elements of language education from the point of the teacher. It would be advisable to do similar research into the topic in the case of early childhood educators as well, and especially in the area of multicultural education. In our research, parts of the interviews with the kindergarten teachers will show the forming of new identities of educators in a multilingual-multicultural pre-school.

Unpreparedness in the theoretical background and the lack of a common framework in multicultural education in Europe means that “multilingualism is highly available in discourses but is still in its infancy from a methodological and applied viewpoint” (Ziegler, 2013, p. 13). At the same time, it does not mean that there are no fresh and successful initiatives in pre- and in-service teacher training in MCE (multicultural education). Due to the absence of the aforementioned missing factors, they reflect more local than international trends and tendencies. In the United Kingdom, it is clearly seen that new subjects and methods should be launched to train teachers for the new challenges. In London Anderson (2008) witnessed the initiation of a course in minority languages like Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Panjabi and Urdu. Here they use the socio-constructivist theory with communicative methodology in order to broaden not only students’ language command, but also their cultural and social knowledge about the given culture. To put it all into practice is more complicated as only few schools volunteer to accept students for teaching practice. Yet, Anderson is convinced that this initiative has launched a serious reform in British teacher training. Catlow (2008), also from the British education, gives an account of a pilot programme where professional teaching materials were tried out by children and teachers of EAL (English as an additional language). The materials were carefully structured and contained central aspects of multilingual education like integrated language and curriculum content, assessment and parent-teacher-community partnership. Due to its professional planning and a positive evaluation the programme has been extended to the whole UK. Other good examples can be mentioned from Finland (Marsh et al, 2013) or Sweden (Otterup, 2013) where 20th century migration indicated changes in teacher education.

Promising results can be expected from international partnership. Kirsch (2008) points out the usefulness of student teacher exchanges in Europe. This has two major advantages: on the one hand, students can develop their language command, and on the other hand, they improve their own intercultural competence. The students of Goldsmith University, London can spend four weeks in France, Spain or Germany. Kirsch’s research reveals several benefits

57 of these exchanges, e.g. the improvement of students’ attitude to the education profession as general (not only to foreign language teaching), the relevance of better planning and more thorough preparation as well as the more precise structure of students’ own teaching lessons.

Another inspirational example is provided by the TESSLA project where six European countries co-operate to develop multicultural teacher training (Young, 2008). The programme is based on holistic and multidisciplinary approach and its aim is to produce useful materials for teachers who take part in multicultural education. A major element of the programme is to make teachers sensitive for the needs of their multiethnic students and with an empathetic approach to create a suitable atmosphere for multilingual-multicultural teaching and learning.

In Hungary one of the major problems in early childhood language development, according to Nikolov (2009), is the paradox that those who are familiar with little children’s age characteristics cannot speak foreign languages well, while those whose language command is good can be usually found in language teacher training and know little about the youngest target group. To bridge the gap, besides Finland and the UK, Hungary has also introduced special programmes in three venues: Budapest, Sopron and Hajdúböszörmény.

These programmes, as Kovács (2009 c) reveals, put a special stress on the theory and practice of bilingualism.

2.4.4 Brief summary

In this chapter about language pedagogy the aim was to review the different types of bilingual and multilingual education so that their appropriate characteristic features could be applied to the research context. Findings show that it is worth making a difference between the strong and weak form of bilingual education. In the present research both immersion (Hungarian and American children) and submersion education (non-Hungarian/ English mother tongue kindergarteners) have their roles. It has also been revealed what kinds of up-to-date findings can be observed in international literature and that Hungarian education misses these examples up to now. The shortcomings in teacher training can also be observed as far as teaching multiculturalism in higher education is concerned. Having discussed the major issues of linguistic, cultural and educational theories, the next chapter will deal with the legal and political background of the present situation.

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2.5 Language political issues

Migration and its related problems have to be taken into consideration in this research as the examined children and their families are from a special aspect the subject of this social phenomenon. In this chapter the reasons and effects of migration will be discussed and an up-to-date picture of the transfer of our age will be provided and it will be examined how the present research topic is embedded in it. In connection with migration human rights and especially language rights will be discussed on the basis of acknowledged authors’ points of view. In the end, the presence of language rights in Hungarian education will be scrutinised as our setting in Pápa is a representative example of migrant children’s and their families’ living environment.

2.5.1 Migration as a social and legal category

As the basis of multiculturalism can be migration, it is worth examining the phenomenon from socio-legal aspects. Although migration is as old as humanity, there are ages when it has new waves in rising tendencies, and the beginning of the 21^st century is undoubtedly belongs to this era.

If the modern definitions of migration are taken into account, clear similarity can be noticed among them. Migration is “a word of Latin origin which means wandering, going, moving, travelling from one place to the other” (Rédei, 2007, p.13) and its final outcome is the translocation of the place of work and residence (Rédei, 2007). According to Münz (2009) migration is a process where individuals or groups of people change their place of living and the surrounding society and the change will become permanent. In another work of his, he gives a very brief definition of migrants stating that they are “persons moving (or having moved) from one country to another” (2008, p. 48). Aranyos (2005), taking EU-law into consideration, gives a minimum time-limit for migration and adds that a criterion of migration is that the migrants want to stay at least another year in the country where they are staying at present. Tóth (2001) emphasises the complexity of migration declaring that migration is highly impacted by the actual social, economic and political processes which are combined with personal interests and will. Additionally, he classifies migration according to its internal vs. external (i.e. within a state or across states), forced/ artificial vs. spontaneous/ voluntary characteristics. The category of legal and illegal migration, with trafficking involved, appears