Becoming agents of change: how early-years practitioners in Luxembourg transformed a monolingual environment into a multilingual one

This case-study examines the personal and professional experiences of two early-years practitioners in a preschool in Luxembourg, the ways in which professional development made them reflect on their beliefs and practices, and, finally, the emerging multilingual practices.
New laws about language education were passed in 2017 to take account of the diverse population (Kirsch forthcoming). The new policies move away from a previous focus on Luxembourgish towards multilingual education. Educators must develop skills in Luxembourgish, familiarise children with French and value their home languages.
Such governmental policies are not transmitted directly into practices because policy-makers, educators and children engage in the process of policy-making, thereby interpreting them in the light of their beliefs, experiences, practices, and the context (Johnson 2013, Ricento and Hornberger 1996). Examples in the literature testify to the teachers’ agency (Palviainen and Mard-Miettinen 2015, Young and Mary 2016). Agency is not a personal characteristic but something people do. It is shaped by past experiences, future orientations, and current practices (Biesta et al. 2015, Priestley et al. 2013).
The study draws on qualitative and quantitative methods (observations, video-recordings, interviews, a questionnaire).
It abides to the ethical principles of the University of Luxembourg.
The findings show that the practitioners were agents of change: they transformed the monolingual-oriented practices into multilingual ones. The professional development helped them understand perspectives of dynamic multilingualism (García 2017) and use languages strategically (Palviainen and Mard-Miettinen 2015).