Heritage language advocates welcomed at the table with Dutch Educational Council

January 24, 2025

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending a meeting in Utrecht hosted by the Dutch Education Council (Onderwijsraad), alongside a network partner from the French Saturday School of Eindhoven "Francofilous." The topic: linguistic diversity in education.

Our presence at this meeting reflects a growing willingness to acknowledge the role of heritage language education—a sector that has been underrecognized in discussions about supporting multilingual students. These community-based, volunteer-run programs make invaluable contributions to children's linguistic and cultural development, yet their efforts are often overlooked.

At the meeting, we emphasized that the Dutch mainstream education system cannot realistically provide literacy and cultural instruction in every home language. It is time for mainstream educators to see heritage language teachers as essential partners in education. These programs complement formal schooling by fostering children’s linguistic, cultural, and personal growth in ways that mainstream schools simply cannot.

Why Now?

The timing of this meeting is crucial for heritage language education:

• A proposed law by the Ministry of Education risks perpetuating misconceptions about community-based heritage language programs. We recently made written recommendations in response, urging a more balanced approach that includes practical support like resources, training, and visibility.

• The Netherlands faces a growing teacher shortage. Heritage language educators could help alleviate this challenge, as shown by successful models abroad.

• Last month, we welcomed a guest from Australia to Eindhoven to share best practices for supporting heritage language programs with policymakers. Yesterday was an opportunity to take that conversation to the national stage.

HLE Network has called on the Onderwijsraad to recognize the contributions if heritage language educators and see them as allies in education. Now is the time explore the ways to support these educators—through collaboration, professional development, and resources—to uplift their work and better serve multilingual students.

We thank the members of the Onderwijsraad for this chance to share our recommendations and look forward to continuing the conversation.