Teachers’ viewpoints about an educational reform concerning multilingualism in German-speaking Switzerland

Multilingualism is ubiquitous in European mainstream education and has increasingly found its way into educational policy documents. Teachers interpret these documents and make pedagogical decisions based on their experiences and beliefs in order to manage their classrooms. The overtly multilingual polity of Switzerland underwent a paradigmatic shift in language teaching in line with a multilingual turn and provides a particularly useful context to investigate the covert educational language policy by exploring sixty-seven primary teachers’ subjective viewpoints about multilingualism. The qualitative interpretation of the inverted factor analytical result uncovers a gap between the common understanding of the nature of multilingualism and the fragmented intentions of pedagogically reacting to linguistic diversity in the classroom. In conclusion, the current study shows the need for a continuation of professional development and establishment of supportive school conditions for the implementation of this large-scale innovation endeavour in the context under scrutiny.