Teacher training needs for bilingual education: in-service teacher perceptions

Abstract

This article presents the outcomes of a European study on the main training needs which in-service teachers consider they have in order to adapt to a bilingual education model. The investigation has designed, validated, and administered four sets of questionnaires to 706 informants (241 of whom have been in-service teachers) across Europe, which have allowed a detailed diagnosis of teachers' training needs in terms of linguistic and intercultural competence, theoretical and methodological aspects based on the new options associated with Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), teaching materials and resources, and ongoing professional development. After framing the topic against the backdrop of prior investigations, the article expounds on the research design of the study and outlines its main findings in relation to the aforementioned fields of interest. A detailed diagnosis of where we currently stand in this process of preparation for CLIL models in Europe is provided.

Keywords:

• CLIL
• teacher education
• Europe
• needs analysis
• in-service teachers

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education [grant number EA2010–0087 (NALTT Project: ‘Needs Analysis of Language Teacher Training: A European Perspective’)].

Notes

1. The European Commission's White Paper on Teaching and Learning. Towards the Learning Society (1995) established the need for European Union (EU) citizens to be proficient in three European languages (the mother tongue + two objective).

2. CLIL is defined as ‘a dual-focussed education approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language’ (Marsh and Langé 2000, 2). The emphasis on both teaching and content points to the very hallmark of CLIL: it involves a ‘two for one’ approach (Lyster 2007, 2), where subject matter teaching is used at least some of the time as a means of increased meaningful exposure to the target language.

3. NALTT: Needs Analysis of Language Teacher Training: A European Perspective (Ministerio de Educación, Programa de Estudios y Análisis 2010–2011, Ref. EA2010–0087).

4. Subject and content teachers are used indistinctly to refer to nonlinguistic area teachers who implement specific subjects/contents (such as science or social studies) in the foreign language.

5. These students are university (under)graduates training to be future CLIL teachers and have thus been considered part of the preservice cohort.

6. It is curious to note that, although our study was originally intended to diagnose teacher training needs across Europe, a considerable number of respondents from North and South America and other continents (Africa, Asia, and Australia) has also answered our surveys, thereby allowing us to enrich our results by analyzing and comparing bilingual teachers’ needs in a broader ambit than was initially envisaged.

7. Charter schools are publicly funded but privately administered (usually nonsecular) schools which tend to be found in urban areas.

8. In order to redress this lacuna, a specific CLIL MA (Máster Universitario en AICLE) is currently being prepared for official approval by the Spanish national accreditation agency (ANECA) and will be implemented in four Spanish universities (Jaén, Granada, Córdoba, and Almería). It adapts the European macro-framework propounded by Marsh et al. (2010) for teacher education to the Spanish microteaching context, is grounded on the research outcomes of the NALTT project, and is aimed at linguistic and nonlinguistic area teachers alike, both at pre- and in-service levels.

9. Study licenses are 6–12-month leaves of absence which certain governments provide in order to encourage in-service teachers to pursue and complete MA and Ph.D. studies.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education [grant number EA2010–0087 (NALTT Project: ‘Needs Analysis of Language Teacher Training: A European Perspective’)].