Three takeaways from the 2024-2025 Survey of Heritage Language Programs in Eindhoven/Brainport

April 7, 2025

Results are available from a survey of heritage language (HL) programs in Eindhoven that HLE Network issued in the autumn of 2024. The previous survey results were published four years ago, so it was time to assess the current state and measure the impact of our professional network. Conclusion? You guessed it: there is still a ton of work that still needs to be done! We have established a solid starting point, but need to ramp up if we want to see long-lasting improvements in the heritage language education sector.

Take home message 1:

Make no assumptions about the students

In many ways, this report confirms what we already know about heritage language education, based on academic literature and on our survey carried out in Eindhoven in 2021. We see that the student population is heterogeneous. The heritage language education sector does not only serve students who were born abroad -- many were born here. The majority of the students are likely to stay long term in the Netherlands and many of them also speak Dutch at home as a mother tongue. Therefore, making assumptions about the types of students attending these programs is not recommended. Accordingly, we will continue to refer to heritage language learners as "multilingual" students, and not "expat" or "international" students.

Take home message 2:

The programs would benefit from structured support

It is good to see that the programs largely have confidence in their ability to face the task at hand, to give children a positive experience and help them develop language skills. What is concerning are the relatively low numbers of students, given what we know about the number of families in Eindhoven with a migration background. This could be due to a a persistent lack of resources, since many programs struggle with finding teachers, managers, lesson space, and skills to teach to mixed-level students -- all compounded by the fact that they have limited time to arrange these elements. We conclude from this that the support structures in place are insufficient to enable all of the programs to thrive.

Take home message 3:

HLE Network is a positive development, but needs to do more

Aware of the logistical challenges that accompany this form of education, HLE Network has spent five years organizing activities with the goal of professionalizing the sector and raising its status. HLE Network's communication skills are rated highly by the language programs who participated in the survey, as are several of its activities -- in particular outreach to mainstream educators, the public online directory, and the annual HLE Networking Night.

The activities that were deemed least valuable were sharing flyers at fairs, surveys, and collaborating with universities. In our view, more energy can certainly be diverted from manning stands at fairs to reaching out directly to mainstream educators. Furthermore, if we agree that if we collaborate with universities, the benefits of the research for our sector must be much more defined. We will not discontinue with surveys, as these help measure our impact, but we will not issue them annually. And of course, we will continue searching for grants and sponsors for teaching materials for the programs, not only for the practical support, but also for the moral support these bring.

Looking ahead, HLE Network will to continue its efforts to professionalize and engage the public in outreach, with a sharper focus on what has impact and a broader search for resources from stakeholders.

VIEW THE SURVEY RESULTS