SMS

How is the potential of multilingualism perceived and exploited in South Tyrolean schools? How can schools go beyond their usual monolingual practice to better cope with the challenges of a multilingual and multicultural society?
The SMS initiative aims at assessing the degree of multilingualism present in South Tyrolean schools, as well as analysing how it is perceived and managed, both by the teaching staff and the pupils. The resulting data and analyses will be used to draft guidelines and produce supporting material for an adequate promotion of language competences in growingly heterogeneous school classes. Particular attention will be given to children whose native language differs from the language of instruction, as a means of fostering the linguistic and intercultural competences of all pupils (which might in future enhance their chances of success in further education and on the job market) . The main focus of the project consists in fostering language awareness and consciousness and at the same time establishing multilingualism as an educational target.