Silencing linguistic diversity: the extent, the determinants and consequences of the monolingual beliefs of Flemish teachers

TLDR

The study is set in Flanders, Belgium, where educational policy is grounded in a strict monolingual ideology. The article seeks to clarify how language policies, school characteristics, and teachers’ monolingual beliefs interact. Using a survey of 775 teachers from 48 secondary schools, the authors examined policy influence on beliefs, inter‑school variation, and the resulting consequences. Teachers strongly support monolingual policies, with adherence differing by school ethnic composition; higher adherence predicts lower expectations for students but not for teaching ability, underscoring implications for policymakers.

Abstract

This article aims to deepen our understanding of the dynamic interaction between language policies, school characteristics and teachers' beliefs about monolingualism. The study takes place in Flanders (Belgium), a region characterized by educational policies which are based on a stringent monolingual ideology. Based on a survey of 775 teachers from across 48 secondary schools, we examined how these policies affected teachers' beliefs, whether and how teacher beliefs vary between schools, and what the consequences of these beliefs are. The results of our multilevel analysis indicate that teachers strongly adhere to monolingual policies, while there are also significant differences across schools, which are related to the ethnic composition of those schools. Furthermore, a stronger adherence to monolingualism was found to trigger teachers to have lower expectations about their students but not about their ability to teach. Finally, implications for policymakers are discussed.