DEIJ and multilingualism in international schools - Part two

Jacob Huckle continues his blog series by exploring what it might mean for multilingualism in international schools if we engaged more deeply with diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.

What does it mean to take diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) seriously in our international schools? The Association of International Educations and Leaders of Color (AIELOC), as well as organisations like ECIS, are providing leadership on this, and I have learned a lot during the past year or two from them and from the talks and writings of inspirational thought-leaders like Margaret Park, Darnell Fine, Danau Tanu, Ceci Gomez-Galvez, Jessica Wei Huang, Nunana Nyomi and others. It is clear that there are multiple inequities and injustices rooted in international schooling and we all have a personal responsibility to pursue the critical question posed by AIELOC: ‘What will it take to end racism and discrimination in the international school ecosystem?’ 

This requires each of us to ‘become a threat to the existence of inequity and an active cultivator of equity in our spheres of influence’ (1) and has led me to reconsider my own sphere of influence, EAL and multilingualism in my international school, through the lens of DEIJ. For me, this is a continuing process of unlearning and rethinking, but it’s a responsibility we should all take seriously. As Jessica Wei Huang writes, DEIJ should not be seen ‘as a bucket of work assigned to a small group of people or the DEIJ coordinator, we need to see DEIJ as a concept that is infused in all areas of the school. Let us put that tea bag in a bigger pot and let it soak into our everyday lives, every classroom, and every meeting space’ (2). 

What might approaches to multilingualism in international schools look like if we engaged more deeply with diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice?  

Too often we approach diversity as a problem to be solved rather than the solution to our problems. We should not think of linguistic diversity just in terms of problem solving – scaffolding, support, and so on – but see the cultural and linguistic diversity in our schools as something to tap into, leverage, and embrace. Translanguaging, in which students draw upon all of their languages as they learn, should not just be seen as a support strategy for particular students, but as enriching for all. The linguistic diversity in our multilingual classrooms opens up opportunities to explore multiple perspectives and deepen learning as students realise another language is another way of looking at the world. Designing lessons and units that enable such linguistic and cultural diversity to flourish is one way to make our international schools more truly international.  

When working with teachers on EAL training, I used to speak about the need to replace our ‘deficit mindsets’ with ‘asset mindsets’. Rather than focusing on our EAL students’ gaps and what they can’t do, we should focus on tapping into their assets, strengths, or what they can do. Seeking to leverage students’ funds of knowledge is essential, of course, but a course with the Equity Literacy Institute helped me realise that this is just one part of the picture: in fact, we might do better to think of a structural or equity mindset as the opposite of deficit ideologies. This implies a shift from focusing on individual students (and their weakness or, better, their strengths) to focusing on systems, structures, and processes. With an equity lens, we position ‘structural inequities’ rather than individuals ‘as the subjects of scrutiny’ (3). To approach languages in our international schools through such a lens, we consider how our schools, and the way they are set up and operate, privilege and disadvantage certain groups of students on the basis of the languages they use and how they use them. We seek to build new systems that challenge such inequities.  

Well-meaning efforts to be more inclusive of EAL students in our international schools sometimes have the opposite impact. In the pursuit of inclusion, schools might focus just on the act of bringing EAL students into ‘mainstream’ classes (instead of removing them, as in ‘pull out’ support models, for example). However, as Eowyn Crisfield puts it so well, ‘What this form of inclusion neglects to take into account is that a student sitting in a class is not necessarily included, they are often simply present. Being present in a classroom but not understanding very much, if anything that is going on around you is a recipe for exclusion…’ (4). Approaches that are truly inclusive of language learners should provide high-quality, expert, targeted instruction in the language of instruction and balance this with a whole-school plan, including professional development for staff, that ensures all teachers are equipped to create inclusive classrooms in which language is scaffolded and extended for all.  

When we engage more deeply with diversity, equity, and inclusion, we start to build ‘education systems that view language education as a social justice issue’ (5). The words we use in our language policies, the way we teach language learners, the data we collect and share about languages, the content of our curriculum, all of this – everything – is part of a broader movement for social justice that has implications beyond the walls of our campuses. By approaching languages from the perspective of DEIJ, we are seeking not only to create more just schools, but a more just ‘society in which multicultural, multilingual schools are considered “the norm”, and in which all languages, and those who speak them, are valued’ (6).

1. Equity Literacy Institute, https://www.equityliteracy.org/equity-literacy 
2. Huang, J.W. (2021) DEIJ missteps and how to get back on track towards liberation, https://huangjaz.medium.com/deij-missteps-and-how-to-get-back-on-track-towards-liberation-86122fd3982b 
3. Wang, S et al. (2021) Dismantling Persistent Deficit Narratives About the Language and Literacy of Culturally and Linguistically Minoritized Children and Youth: Counter-Possibilities. Frontiers in Education 6: 1-19. 
4. Crisfield, E. (2021) Diversity, equity, inclusion, and languages: What are the connections?, https://www.cois.org/about-cis/news/post/~board/perspectives-blog/post/diversity-equity-inclusion-and-languages-what-are-the-connections 
5. Cleave, E. (2020) Language, education and social justice: International strategies for systems change in multilingaul schools, The Bell Foundation, https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/app/uploads/2020/06/Churchill-Report-2020-FV-web.pdf 
6. Ibid.