Hidden in plain sight: the global heritage language education sector

Community-based heritage language schools operate worldwide in countries with minority and diasporic languages. They constitute a key language education sector, with an estimated two million students worldwide, and have the aim of developing the language and cultural understanding of young people. This article, based on research across three countries and three language networks, identifies key issues confronting the sector: the lack of recognition of such schools as an education sector and of the teachers in these schools, and the lack of recognition and crediting of student language proficiency and cultural knowledge. The article discusses possible solutions to these issues and future research directions.